INDIANAPOLIS -- Urban Meyer said Friday that quarterback J.T. Barrett should be ready for Saturday's Big Ten Championship game after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Sunday.

The fifth-year senior and third-year captain is putting himself in that situation by rehabbing 15 hours a day, with Meyer saying he saw Barrett getting treatment at 6 a.m. when he arrived for work this week and saw Barrett still rehabbing when Meyer was leaving for the day.

Meyer said he'll continue to have discussions with his assistants and with Barrett about the plan, and he's not certain that Barrett will start, or that he will play. But he said Barrett has progressed well since the surgery required by an aggravation of his knee injury against Michigan last week.

Barrett had the surgery Sunday with the Buckeyes hopeful, but not assured, that he'd be ready for a game six days later. Meyer said Barrett and the OSU medical staff made the surgery decision after concluding it was the best way for Barrett to be as ready and as effective as possible for this game between the No. 4 Badgers and No. 8 Buckeyes. The procedure on his meniscus removed a torn piece of cartilage in his right knee.

"Just don't put anything past J.T.," Meyer said. "He said, 'Coach, I'll be fine.' OK. And then we went about our business and watched him rehab."

It can be hard to understand how a player could be ready six days after a procedure like that, but Meyer said he had one player be ready that quickly in the past. Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber, for instance, played the week after a meniscus surgery in 2008.

"So much of it has to do with how he does during the course of the week," Meyer said Friday during his required pregame news conference. "The trainers and doctors are very involved. And it's not finished. He's still 24 hours out. I've had a player do it before, that was scoped earlier in the week and played. Then I've had others that can't. And the body has to react a certain way. And his has been very positive."

Meyer said Barrett threw the ball on Wednesday and practiced Thursday. That is not what every player would be able to do in this situation.

"That's not normal," Meyer said. "It takes a rare individual, because there is a pain threshold. Also, you start talking about 15 hours a day of treatment, which is what he did, I can't say that's normal. Because it's not. I've had players have similar type things happen, they're out two, three weeks.

"But he's not normal."

Barrett said he had been dealing with a knee issue all season, aggravating it against Indiana in the season opener. He hurt it again when he was bumped on the sideline by what he thinks was a camera man while warming up on the sideline before the Michigan game.

Barrett twisted the knee again in the third quarter and left the game and didn't return. Backup Dwayne Haskins relieved Barrett and the Buckeyes went on to a 31-20 win. Haskins will be ready Saturday if Barrett can't go.

Immediately after the game, Barrett said he would play in this championship game. But he then had surgery, and now the Buckeyes are hopeful. But they can't be sure.