Report: Braxton Miller will miss 2014 season after reinjuring shoulder

Ohio State senior quarterback and Wayne High School graduate Braxton Miller will miss the 2014 season after reinjuring his right shoulder Monday, according to a report by ESPN’s Brett McMurphy on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, Ohio State cancelled a planned interview session with players and coaches for the media and said it would provide an update on Miller when it had information to share.

Redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett is now the favorite to start the season opener against Navy on Aug. 30. He was winning the competition with sophomore Cardale Jones to be Miller’s backup.

In comparing Barrett and Jones on Monday, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tom Herman said, “The offense moves better when (Barrett’s) in there. He’s probably completing more balls and making more of the right reads and more of the right reads in the run game. At the end of the day, the offense moves more frequently when J.T.’s the quarterback — not that Cardale’s doing a bad job — and that’s the sign of a good quarterback.”

Barrett comes from Rider High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was ranked the No. 11 prospect in Texas by 247Sports, a top 150 recruit by 247Sports and Scout.com and a top 300 player by ESPN. As a junior in high school, he rushed for 1,500 yards and passed for 1,600. His senior year in 2012 was cut short after five games when he tore his ACL.

Barrett enrolled at Ohio State in January 2013 while recovering from his 2012 knee surgery. He worked out that spring but could not run and redshirted last fall as a true freshman. He split snaps with Jones this spring as Miller rehabbed following offseason shoulder surgery.

Ohio State had been taking it slow with Miller, limiting the number of throws he made each day in practice, but Miller said he was 100 percent Monday after a morning practice. Miller did not throw in the first practice.

“On two-a-days, we give him the morning off throwing, and then he throws in the afternoon,” Herman said Monday. “He’ll throw this afternoon. He got a lot of reps with the team today this morning because it’s kind of a run-emphasis in the morning, full pads, so we threw him in with all the runs with the No. 1 offense. He did a good job with all his reads, getting all the guys lined up in the right spot. We’ll know a lot more after this afternoon’s practice in terms of how the arm’s feeling.”

Miller had the third-best chance of winning the Heisman Trophy this season, according to one online oddsmaker. He had 15-2 odds, trailing only Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota (6-1) and Florida State’s Jameis Winston (9-2).

With the news of Miller’s injury, Ohio State’s odds of winning the national championship dropped from 10-1 to 18-1.

About the Author