ESPN Report: Braxton Miller Out For Season (UPDATE: OSU Confirms) Comment Count

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ESPN's Brett McMurphy is reporting that Ohio State's Braxton Miller, who multiple outlets confirmed reinjured his right (throwing) shoulder at practice yesterday afternoon, is out for the 2014 season.

NFL.com senior writer Gil Brandt said earlier today that OSU was "expecting" Miller to miss the season, and official word on the matter should come out later today. A Columbus television outlet confirms McMurphy's report, as well. Since last night, Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch—the first reporter to break news of the injury—filled in some details of how the injury occurred:

Neither a team spokesman nor coach Urban Meyer would confirm the news, but sources said that Miller, who had been considered a strong candidate for the Heisman Trophy, suffered the injury while throwing a routine pass. He was not hit, having been off-limits from contact since off-season shoulder surgery.

Miller underwent an MRI this morning, the details of which have yet to be released. There's still no official word from Ohio State.

Before anything else, let me express my deepest sympathies for Miller; he not only faces what appears to be a tough recovery—if he injured the shoulder without any contact, it's likely his injury suffered against Clemson in January never fully healed in the first place—but he's in a very tough spot regarding his pro future.

Miller could take a redshirt and come back in 2015, but there were already serious questions about whether he could be a quarterback at the NFL level; if his best chance to make it is at running back or wide receiver, he's lost a critical year of development and faces a difficult choice: come back to school and take another year of punishment as OSU's QB, or go pro despite coming off a season lost to injury. Here's hoping he fully recovers his past form; he's a truly spectacular player to watch, and college football will be worse off this year without him.

As for the on-field ramifications, Ohio State looks like they'll enter the season with a redshirt freshman starting in Miller's place:

If Miller misses time, redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett currently leads redshirt sophomore Cardale Jones to be the next in at quarterback for Ohio State. Barrett redshirted in 2013 while recovering from a knee injury he suffered in his senior season of high school. Jones appeared in three games last season, completing 1/2 passes for 3 yards and rushing 17 times for 128 yards and a touchdown.

The Buckeyes must also replace RB Carlos Hyde, who rushed for over 1,500 yards in 2013, along with four starters on their offensive line. Their talent should allow them to contend for the Big Ten title anyway, especially if they can shore up their issues on defense under new co-DC Chris Ash, but this certainly hurts their chances at a national title run and likely makes Michigan State the frontrunner for the conference title.

UPDATE: Ohio State has released a statement confirming Miller will miss the 2014 season. Miller is on track to graduate in December; he plans to enroll in graduate school at OSU and return for the 2015 season.

Comments

bronxblue

August 19th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^

It's a tough loss for OSU, but I'm not sure how big of an impact it will have when they play UM.  Though the team will be different without Miller, they'll have the whole season to work on the kinks.  If anything, it makes those VT and Cincy games a bit more interesting, especially since Tech will blitz the crap out of Barrett and I don't think anyone is ready to fill in for Hyde to that degree.

unWavering

August 19th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^

They may have worked out the kinks by then, but any way you slice it, this OSU team will not be the same one we would have faced otherwise. Even if their backup is pretty good, you don't just replace a Heisman frontrunner.

Not to mention, their whole team besides the defensive line is basically one big question mark. This could be a lean year for them, for OSU standards.

bronxblue

August 19th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^

Oh yeah, this absolutely screws up their season in terms of MNC hopes, and probably puts them in 2nd/3rd place in the conference.  But I just think they'll have it figured out somewhat by the time they play UM.  I mean, Meyer is a good coach; he'll figure out an offense that takes advantage of the talent they have.  And some of their question marks are still not THAT bad - they have so much talent that they'll be okay.  But 2-3 losses now look pretty likely, whereas before that would have been worst-case.

True Blue Grit

August 19th, 2014 at 2:17 PM ^

even with the loss of a big player like Miller.  They have loads of talent at almost all of the positions.  Obviously the key for them is how their new QB responds to the pressure of taking over the starting job.  He doesn't need to be a world-beating QB either for Ohio to have a successful year.  If he can just manage games well without turning the ball over too much, they will still do well.  But, definitely I'd say this injury brings them much closer to the rest of the pack.  

4godkingandwol…

August 19th, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^

 

The Buckeyes must also replace RB Carlos Hyde, who rushed for over 1,500 yards in 2013, along with four starters on their offensive line. Their talent should allow them to contend for the Big Ten title anyway... 

 

bronxblue

August 19th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^

To be fair, teams like Alabama and FSU replace huge swaths of their team year-to-year and people still expect them to compete at least in their conference.  Elite teams tend to reload more than rebuild, even with unexpected losses.

bronxblue

August 19th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

Maybe, but he's 6-2 and 235, which sounds like a bigger back to me.  As a WR he'd be solid, but learning to catch the ball after you haven't done it for years seems harder than running, which is something he's done quite well.  I guess I see him following the steps of Tebow and Denard as a combo weapon who has the best fit as a back.  But who knows.

notetoself

August 19th, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^

if it's really a dislocated shoulder as i've seen reported, then you don't need contact to re-dislocate it. putting your arm back behind the plane of your body and up above your shoulder is nearly the worst possible place, and then applying force will pop it right out. i did the exact same thing playing goalie in hockey - glove save on a wrist shot - shoulder just rolled right out.

zeda_p

August 19th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^

So sad. The older I get, the more I appreciate/admire natural talent. Hopefully they'll get him a good doctor and the needed time/rehabilitation. 

bronxblue

August 19th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^

One other note for all the OSU fans who laughed at Denard when he went down against Nebraska - how does it feel?  Sucks, doesn't it, to see one of your best players taken out and throwing your entire offense into disarray?  

To those people...

Mr. Yost

August 19th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^

That sucks.

I wonder if he'll redshirt or if he'll just go to the NFL and try to make it as a 5th round WR.

I honestly thought we were going to beat OSU this year anyway...now this will be used as the reason to why.

(I still had us with 3 losses, but I had us improving every week and putting it together for OSU and in the bowl game creating an avalanche of hype for 2015 when the schedule is better and the majority of the team returns).

BlueKoj

August 19th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^

I understand the "want to beat their best" argument intellecutally, but it doesn't ring true to my feelings. The losses when Henne, Hart, & DRob were hurt haven't changed the meaning of those. Did it matter when Devin played on a broken foot last year? No. The Game is punctuated by plenty of big time injuries...in time, it all fades to Ws and Ls.

Wins will almost always be earned in the Game, regardless of circumstance. This year will be no different.

M-Dog

August 19th, 2014 at 2:12 PM ^

Wins will almost always be earned in the Game, regardless of circumstance.
 
This is so true.  I have seen every Michigan - OSU game since 1982.  I don't think I can think of a single one where the winner just backed into it and did not earn it.  
 
The closest I can think of is OSU's win in 2007 and Michigan's win in 2011, and even in those wins against depleted opponents, the winner had to go out and earn it.
 
Expect this year to be the same no matter who starts at QB for either team. 

dragonchild

August 19th, 2014 at 2:48 PM ^

The Game isn't always close.  31-3?  28-0?  22-6?  42-7?  You're seriously claiming every single one of these games was tough?  The Game IS often up for grabs; one team could be undefeated while the other is under .500 and it can still come down to the wire.  Case in point:  That literally happened last season.  That's one reason no one should ever bet on the Game.  There isn't even a pattern of "the underdog wins" or "in X conditions it's close".  Anything can happen.  But that "anything" includes absolutely embarrassing cakewalks that leaves one side depressed until the next chance comes around.  No one relaxes BEFORE the game, but there are plenty of times in hindsight when the clock hits 00:00 and you wipe the blood off the grass and think, "Well, that really wasn't much of a fight, was it?"

AlaskanYeti

August 19th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^

Woudln't surprise me if he went pro. He has 8 months to recover and train for the draft. He could really refine his skills at a new position in that time frame to a point where and NFL team would take a chance on him since he's such a great talent.

yossarians tree

August 19th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^

I feel for the kid and hope he makes it all the way back. Helluva player.

Personally I thought he was going to have a tough time winning the Heisman this year because he won't have nearly the supporting cast although their receivers are good. He was going to get hit a lot. This is the downside to even the best dual-threat QB offense and frankly I am glad we are back to smash mouth provided we can actually, you know, smash mouths at some point here pretty soon, mmmkay?

carlos spicywiener

August 19th, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^

That's the urban meyer offense: have your QB run or option the ball every 2 of 3 snaps, throw the ball 15x a game, run him into the ground, and if he manages to make it to the NFL with joints and ligaments intact, good for him. Tebow did, but Tebow is the size of a Prius.

If I was a HS QB considering Ohio State, I'd think twice.

MI Expat NY

August 19th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^

Either way, he's playing QB in the NFL 10 years after his college days.  I don't really know whose argument this fact supports (I've lost track), but it seems to me that Urban Meyer, like a lot of offensive coaches, looks better when he has a great QB.  I'll leave with this fact.  Since Bowling Green, because I'll be damned if I'm going to go look up who his QB was at BG and if he was any good, Urban Meyer has the following career records:

With Alex Smith, Tim Tebow (including hybrid Leak-Tebow year), and Braxton Miller as starting QB:  94-11.

Without said trio: 17-8.  

Maybe it's a small sample size issue, but I for one relish the idea that Ohio State may be looking at the latter Urban Meyer this season, rather than the former.