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Asked how much he would miss the outspoken Barton, Tressel said ''Probably a year ago, I would have said ÔVery little.' I'm just being honest. But I've really admired what Kirk Barton has done this year.''
He wasn't even a captain on his high school team at Massillon Perry, but Barton was named a captain this year. Tressel probably had to wrestle with that decision, since Barton was the one who appeared in the postgame interview room following the win over Michigan last year with a Cuban cigar in his hand and a $300 bottle of champagne in the locker room.
Barton's antics were never inflammatory -- except when he wondered aloud why Troy Smith wasn't getting the opportunity to play when the offense was sputtering under Justin Zwick in 2004. But Barton was always enough of a character to keep things interesting.
Coming into this year, though, Barton had lost all of his running mates. T.J. Downing, the starting right guard last year, was Barton's best friend. He was also close to Troy Smith and Anthony Gonzalez.
None of them are around anymore. Perhaps knowing their future, Barton briefly flirted with the idea of leaving after last year for the NFL. He thought better of it and decided to return for his senior year, and his draft stock vaulted because of it.
Barton was named a first team All-American by the coaches and now enters April's draft as one of the top tackles available. Last year, the NFL had him projected as a fourth-round pick.
But it wasn't just his work on the field. Barton transformed into the type of leader Tressel needed for a young team that had lost all its stars. Barton was there to nurture the underclassmen and make sure they had what they needed. He was there after the crushing loss to Illinois, skipping a postgame meal with his family to instead watch film and brood over what seemed like a lost opportunity.
That night he scribbled a powerful message in the team meeting room, demanding the rest of the players to forget about bowl games and the Rose Bowl and anything else but Michigan. The only thing that mattered, he said, was beating Michigan.
They did, and as it turns out, none of those dreams were lost after all.
While Barton was typing out term papers and preparing for graduation, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma were ensuring he'd get another shot at a championship ring.
Learning to lead took time, though. And Barton wasn't sure how to do it until he watched others, like Will Smith, Nick Mangold, Rob Sims, Mike Nugent and Troy Smith. All year, Barton has called Nugent the best captain he's seen at Ohio State. Smith, he said, was a warrior.
''Troy could be the funniest kid on the team, and then when it was time to be serious, he was stone cold,'' Barton said. ''He was a gladiator. Those are the things you pick up. Guys don't respond to you if you're yelling all the time. Guys don't respond to you if you're being silly all the time. You've got to find a good medium.''
As the Buckeyes prepare for LSU and the national championship game on Jan. 7, Barton has found that place. His friends are all in the NFL, but now that doesn't seem to matter.
In two weeks, he has the opportunity to right all the wrongs from last year's championship game. That's something Smith, Gonzalez and Downing can't ever do.
With graduation now behind him, that's the only piece missing from his college life.
''Knowing that he's not hanging out with (the other players) and he's in a really different stage of his life than most of the team, he put a lot of thought and a lot of sacrifice into what he was going to do,'' Tressel said. ''He was going to be there for guys even if it didn't necessarily fit his time schedule or what was going on in his life. I thought from spring practice on, he's done that.
''It hasn't been a simple thing because a lot of the guys he's trying to lead aren't the guys he grew up with. To answer the question, I'll miss Kirk Barton a lot.''
jlloyd@morningjournal.com
