Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, who is facing his first legitimate quarterback battle since taking over for the Buckeyes, said on Wednesday that he hopes to name a starter by the end of spring practice.
“I don’t know where we’ll be. I hope that one of them emerges and we can name a starter, I really do,” he said. “I think the way that our dynamic is, I think it’d be great for our program to be able to do that.
“There were times in the past when I didn’t see that happening,” he continued. “I’m hoping that can happen. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But some vision on who the starter is coming out of the spring would be nice. So hoping that one of them emerges here in these 15 practices.”
Those two that Day is looking at to emerge, of course, are Kyle McCord and Devin Brown. McCord has spent the past two seasons as the backup to C.J. Stroud, while Brown recently completed his first season at Ohio State.
McCord has thrown for 606 yards and three touchdowns over the past two seasons and also has a start under his belt, filling in against Akron in 2021 while Stroud recovered from a shoulder injury. In the start, McCord threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns (and an interception) while completing 72.3 percent of his passes.
Brown, meanwhile, has yet to throw a pass. He appeared in just two games last season, carrying the ball once but mostly handing the ball off himself. Even though he doesn’t have the experience that McCord has yet, Day is treating it as an open competition.
“I’m excited to see these two guys compete. What an unbelievable opportunity for both of them,” he said. “When you look at the guys that are surrounding and the cast that’s surrounding them, you couldn’t be more excited to be quarterback right now, I would think, in college football.
“It’s going to be a heck of a competition,” he continued. “I’m really looking forward to seeing it. They both have a little bit of a different skill set and it’s gonna be fun to watch them compete this spring.”
