COLUMBUS – It came down to a coin toss.
The question of which of the Buckeyes’ veteran quarterbacks would take the first snap on the first play of the first day of fall practice was settled by a flip of a coin before practice by quarterbacks coach Tim Beck.
Cardale Jones beat J.T Barrett in this competition.
“We flipped a coin and he got heads,” Barrett said.
Jones, who led Ohio State to victories in the final three games of its national championship season, is battling with Barrett, who guided the offense until he was injured near the end of the regular season finale against Michigan, for the start quarterback job to begin the 2015 season.
Head coach Urban Meyer told reporters after the team’s first fall practice that, for the time being, the two will get equal chances to show what they can do.
“I think it’s going to be fifty-fifty,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a work in progress. Our objective is, for the first dozen practices, to make it fifty-fifty right down the line.”
Ohio State’s quarterback was simplified slightly when two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Braxton Miller switched positions to hybrid back, a combination of wide receiver and running back.
Meyer says he has never faced a situation like the Jones/Barrett conundrum. At Florida, he did not have to treat Chris Leak and Tim Tebow as equals because “they were two different skill sets.”
Meyer said he would not make the name of the starting quarterback public until the kickoff of the season opener at Virginia Tech on Sept. 7 (8:00 p.m./ESPN).
As for Miller’s first day at H-back, the former quarterback impressed observers with his speed but Meyer would only admit that Miller got off to a good start.
“He had a good day…but I’m glad it’s Day One,” Meyer said. “As far as skillset and attitude and running around and dynamic: Yes, yes, yes.”
The players practice without pads until Friday. The first-two-a-day session of the fall camp is Aug. 19.