LSU Football: How basketball is responsible for Joe Burrow ending up in Baton Rouge

Joe Burrow spent three years at Ohio State before transferring to LSU in 2018.

Urban Meyer coached Joe Burrow for three seasons at Ohio State before the transcendent quarterback transferred to LSU in 2018.

Burrow went on to have one of the best seasons ever by a college football player in 2019, throwing for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns.

The success of Burrow in Baton Rouge has often led folks to wonder why things didn’t work out at Ohio State.

After all, Burrow, who grew up in Ohio, seemed like an ideal fit at Ohio State. And he’s clearly one of the most gifted quarterbacks on the planet.

Meyer, like him or not, knows how to evaluate talent. How did he let Burrow slip away?

Well, according to recent comments from Meyer, Burrow was a bit “raw” as a football player when he arrived at Ohio State. Meyer attributed that to the fact that Burrow was a standout basketball player and wasn’t able to focus solely on football in high school.

Burrow averaged 17.1 points and 6.9 rebounds in 68 games during his high school career, earning all-state honors in Ohio.

Because Meyer didn’t think Burrow was ready, he decided to go with Dwayne Haskins as the heir to JT Barrett. Burrow transferred to LSU and the rest is history.

Haskins ended up having an incredible 2018 season, throwing for 4,831 yards and 50 touchdowns against only 8 interceptions, so it’s hard to argue that Meyer made the wrong decision. Burrow’s 2018 season at LSU was pedestrian compared to his 2019 season.

Still, I imagine Meyer would’ve loved having Burrow in Columbus for a couple more seasons. If Burrow would’ve been at Ohio State in 2019, maybe Meyer coaches another year.

And while Meyer probably regrets letting Burrow escape Ohio State, he still deserves credit for finding him in the first place.

Burrow didn’t have a particularly impressive offer sheet. In fact, his only SEC offers were from Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

But Burrow’s natural athleticism (he once played cornerback in the state playoffs….and excelled), led Meyer to offering him a scholarship.

Ohio State’s loss is LSU’s gain. If not for basketball, maybe Burrow isn’t behind Haskins at Ohio State and never leaves Columbus for Baton Rouge.

Fortunately, we’ll never have to play the “what if” game when it comes to Burrow and the Tigers.