Joe Burrow has gone from Ohio State backup to LSU starting quarterback to Heisman Trophy candidate in seemingly a matter of seconds. While this is his second season at the helm of the Tigers’ offense, he has had a breakout year through five games so far, throwing for 1,520 yards and 17 touchdowns while just being picked off twice.

It is a far cry from where he stood as a freshman in the Buckeyes’ film room where then-coach Urban Meyer told the quarterback, among other things, that “you throw like a girl.”

Actually, Burrow agreed, as he told The Athletic that “my arm strength wasn’t up to par.”

He offered more explanation in a new conversation with Billy Embody of 247Sports.

“Yea, coach Meyer when he gets a new quarterback there as a freshman, he kind of pokes and prods them to see what they can take and then if they can go out and execute while he’s back there yelling at them so he kind of mimics environments you’re going to see on the road so he wants to see if their quarterbacks can handle it so he would be back there yelling at me saying, ‘You’re a DII quarterback, you can’t throw’ and just see if you can handle it as a quarterback,” Burrow told Embody.

The velocity of his passes doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore as he has led the Tigers’ offensive revival under coordinator Steve Ensminger. With LSU finally able to put points on the board at a high rate, the Bayou Bengals have quickly become a top pick to make the College Football Playoff.

A tough schedule awaits Burrow and the Tigers, though, starting next week when No. 10 Florida comes to Baton Rouge. Two weeks later, Ed Orgeron’s team will host No. 7 Auburn in Tiger Stadium and, after an off week, travel to Tuscaloosa to face No. 1 Alabama.