No one knew what he was going to do. Not his friends, not his coaches, not even his mom. It was a tough choice after all. This decision could have an impact on the rest of his life, but he’s finally made it, and senior, Joe Thomas Barrett has no doubt that it’s the right move.
JT Barrett has accepted an offer to play football at Ohio State University, and he will be graduating early next year to get a head start on his training.
“I want to graduate early to get to business,” Barrett said. “I don’t want to waste any time.”
And he means it. Barrett has yet to waste any time getting prepared for what he calls his “career,” even since he was a little kid watching professional games.
“When I was 4 or 5 years old I would watch NFL games on TV,” Barrett said. “One day I just told my parents: that’s what I want to do.”
And he got to it quickly, playing running-back for Boys & Girls Club at age seven, and eventually quarterback at McNiel Junior High before coming to play for Rider.
“We’ve known who he was since he was at McNiel,” said head coach James Garfield. “We knew that we had a lot of talent coming in from him and from all the junior highs.”
Which was fortunate as Barrett wouldn’t have the chance to prove himself for awhile. He broke his right collar bone, his throwing side, in one of the first games.
“In my head I knew it wasn’t career ending,” Barrett said. “But it sure felt like it. I thought of the other kids in the nation getting ahead of me.”
Despite his injury Barrett was moved to the varsity football team at the beginning of his sophomore year.
“He had to be on the field at all times,” offensive coach Marc Bindel said. “He worked very hard.”
And he still does. Barrett has come to be ranked as the #1 dual threat quarterback on 24/7sports.com’s list of 4A football players.
“He wants to be the best and have the best team,” Bindel said. “He wants to prove himself.”
And he has proven himself to colleges all over the nation; Barrett has gotten 100s of interviews and almost as many offers and scholarships.
“JT Has taken a very active role in growing up, he has leadership skills and he respects education,” Garfield said. “He just has an internal drive to be successful.”
As to his future, both coaches agree that Barrett has made a great choice with Ohio State and that he has a very bright future ahead of him.
“JT would have been crazy to reject the offer they gave him,” Garfield said. “This school will do a great job of preparing him for the professional league.”
And with his future, if Barrett chooses to play for the NFL he says he will go with whatever team will give him the best chance to play, regardless of how good they are.
“I don’t care if the team is that good or that bad,” Barret said. “If they aren’t very good, then they’ll need me more, anyway.”