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Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow Credits Ohio State For NFL Success

Burrow spent three years in Columbus before transferring to LSU ahead of his redshirt junior season.

Although he spent the final two years of his college career at LSU, where he won a national championship and the Heisman Trophy, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow looks back fondly on his three years at Ohio State.

“I wouldn’t be the same player that I am today without those trials and tribulations that I went through there,” Burrow said during his media availability on Wednesday afternoon. “I loved my time there, I stay in contact with a lot of people from Ohio State and, like I said, I wouldn’t be the same player.

“I think I am who I am because of the difficult times that I went through in my career, and if you look at all the quarterbacks that were in the playoffs, a lot of them have gone through a lot of adversity in their careers – whether it was early on in high school without offers or after college not getting drafted high or having to go to junior college or anything like that. I think part of what makes certain people great is the adversity that they’ve had to go through.”

A former four-star prospect from Athens, Ohio, Burrow was the third-string quarterback behind J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones during his freshman season in 2015. He spent the next two years as Barrett’s backup before battling Dwayne Haskins for the starting role in the spring of 2018.

After Haskins was named the starter, Burrow moved on to LSU as a graduate transfer. He then threw for 5,671 yards and a then-NCAA record 60 touchdowns to lead the Tigers to the national title as a fifth-year senior, also capturing the school’s second Heisman Trophy in the process (Billy Cannon, 1959).

Burrow was selected by the Bengals with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and will now lead the franchise into its first AFC Championship Game since the 1988 season, with kickoff against the Kansas City Chiefs set for 3:05 p.m. on CBS this Sunday.

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