Joe Burrow

Early life

Burrow was born in Ames, Iowa, on December 10, 1996, the son of Robin and Jim Burrow. Jim is a former football player and coach whose career lasted over 40 years. Burrow was born while his father was on the coaching staff at Iowa State University. According to a 2019 Sports Illustrated story, "The Burrow athletic lineage dates back nearly a century." In the 1940s, his paternal grandmother set a Mississippi state high school record with an 82-point game in basketball. His paternal grandfather played basketball at Mississippi State; his uncle, John Burrow, played football at Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi); and two older brothers also played football at Nebraska.

He attended the 2002 Rose Bowl at age five, because his father was an assistant coach for the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Not long after, he began playing in youth football leagues. Unlike his father, uncle, and brothers, who all played on defense, Burrow started out as a quarterback, because his first youth team had no one else who could play the position. The Burrow family moved to North Dakota in 2003 when his father was hired as the defensive coordinator at North Dakota State University in Fargo. One day, while Jim was visiting his office, future Central Michigan head coach Dan Enos commented that the seven-year-old Joe had a future in football. The Burrows spent two years in Fargo before Jim accepted the defensive coordinator position at Ohio University in Athens.

Burrow attended Athens High School (2011–2014) in The Plains, Ohio, leading the school to three straight playoff appearances and the school's first seven playoff victories in school history. During his career, he passed for 11,416 yards with 157 passing touchdowns and rushed for 2,067 yards with 27 rushing touchdowns. He was awarded the state's Mr. Football Award and Gatorade Player of the Year award as a senior in 2014. He and his Bulldog teammates went 14–1 that season. He was also a standout basketball player, and was named first-team all-state at point guard his senior year. Burrow was rated as a four-star football recruit, and was the eighth-highest ranked dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2015, according to the 247Sports Composite. He committed to Ohio State to play football on May 27, 2014.

In December 2019, the Athens City School District school board unanimously approved a measure to rename the school's football stadium in honor of Burrow. Burrow's connection with the area remains strong as such that during the 2020 NFL draft, he wore a T-shirt with the number 740 in reference to the area code for Athens as well as Appalachian Ohio in general.

Ohio State

After redshirting his first year at Ohio State in 2015, Burrow spent the next two years as a backup to J. T. Barrett, during which he played in 10 games, completing 29 of 39 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns. In 2016, Burrow and Dwayne Haskins were backups for Barrett in that season's CFP Semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl against Clemson.

During Ohio State's spring game in 2018, Burrow completed 15 of 22 pass attempts for 238 yards and two touchdowns. The game was further part of Ohio State's competition for the starting quarterback position, contested by Burrow, Tate Martell, and Dwayne Haskins. Following the game, Burrow told reporters "I didn't come here to sit on the bench for four years. I know I'm a pretty good quarterback. I want to play somewhere." Realizing that Haskins would be named starting quarterback at Ohio State, Burrow transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU) on May 18, 2018. Burrow had graduated from Ohio State in three years with a degree in consumer and family financial services, and was immediately eligible as a graduate transfer.

2018

In his first year at LSU, Burrow was named the starting quarterback as a redshirt junior in 2018. In an early season road trip to then-No. 7 Auburn, Burrow threw for 249 yards and a touchdown en route to a 22–21 win. He was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Offensive Player of the Week following the victory. He again earned SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors following a 292-yard, three-touchdown performance against Ole Miss two weeks later. Burrow played in LSU's 7-overtime and 5-hour long loss to Texas A&M. After the game, Burrow experienced fatigue and had to receive IV therapy from trainers. Burrow helped lead the Tigers to a 10–3 record, including a win over UCF in the Fiesta Bowl, and a No. 6 ranking in the final AP Poll. Burrow finished the season with 2,894 yards passing, 16 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He added 399 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

2019

Burrow was again named LSU's starting quarterback heading into his redshirt senior season in 2019. In the Tigers' season opener against Georgia Southern, Burrow threw for 278 yards and five touchdowns in a 55–3 win, and was later named SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week (with Tua Tagovailoa). In a Week 2 road trip to ninth-ranked Texas, Burrow threw for 471 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception in a 45–38 win. His 471 yards were the second-most in school history and the most since Rohan Davey's 528 against Alabama in 2001. He was named Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week and SEC Offensive Player of the Week following the performance. Burrow earned his third SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors on September 21 during LSU's game against Vanderbilt. He threw for 398 yards and a school-record six passing touchdowns in the Tigers' 66–38 win. He became the first LSU quarterback to throw for over 350 yards in three consecutive games.

In a 42–6 win over Utah State, Burrow threw for 344 yards and five touchdowns, and became the first Tiger quarterback to throw for 300-plus yards in four consecutive games. The streak came to an end the next week against seventh-ranked Florida, but Burrow's 293 yards and three touchdown passes helped lead the Tigers to another win, 42–28. The next week, in LSU's seventh game of the season, Burrow eclipsed the LSU single-season passing touchdowns record of 28 when he added four more in a win against Mississippi State. In their next game, Burrow led LSU against ninth-ranked Auburn and LSU defeated another top 10 opponent, as Burrow's 321-yard, two-total-touchdowns performance set a new school record of eight career 300-yard games.

When LSU played Alabama on November 9, the two schools were ranked higher than they had been since they had played in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game; LSU was ranked second and Alabama third when the season's inaugural College Football Playoff rankings had been released the prior week. The game also featured two leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy in Burrow and Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Burrow and the Tigers came away victorious in a 46–41 shootout. Burrow passed for 393 yards and three touchdowns in the game, and was again named Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week and SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, sharing the latter with teammate Clyde Edwards-Helaire.