Among the several storylines to follow Ohio State during spring camp, none compared to the attention placed on the Buckeyes’ budding quarterback competition between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown.
McCord and Brown each got their fill of first-team reps and continued to progress toward the spring game, with Ohio State’s starting quarterback job hanging in the balance. As the spring continued, anticipation grew for the annual Spring Game, in which McCord and Brown would compete for the job in front of tens of thousands of fans at Ohio Stadium.
However, that growing buzz surrounding the Spring Game was swiftly snuffed out after head coach Ryan Day revealed that Brown would miss the intrasquad matchup just three days prior to the game due to a pinkie finger fracture on his throwing hand.
“It was a slight little thing in practice, I just had a little procedure on it,” Brown said after the Spring Game. “(It was) nothing crazy. I’ll be back in four weeks or so.”
While neither McCord nor Brown was able to gain much separation from one another during camp, according to Day, the spring game would have served as another battleground between the quarterback tandem had Brown been able to suit up.
Brown emphasized that it hurt to not be able to play in the Spring Game, but that he tried to bring a positive mindset to the offensive sideline, which endured some struggles Saturday, throughout the game.
“It’s definitely hard knowing that I could’ve been playing,” Brown said. “We were working for it all spring. But at the end of the day, I was just happy to just cheer on my guys and do whatever I could.”
Although he was unable to showcase his talents to the Ohio State fanbase during the Spring Game, Brown said he felt he did enough during spring camp to show that he belonged in the race with McCord.
“Obviously, it sucked. But, at the end of the day, I feel like I had a good few practices in the spring,” Brown said. “I felt like I had enough days to still feel good about my spring, and not really have to worry about the rest of it.”
Brown’s injury may harken back to the quarterback battle between Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow in 2017 and 2018, with Burrow enduring an injury during fall camp in 2017 and Haskins stepping into the backup role where he did enough to get a leg up ahead of the competition for the starting job in 2018, ultimately causing Burrow to transfer to LSU.
However, even if he is unable to claim the starting job in the fall, Brown said he’s committed to the Buckeyes for the long haul — regardless of his status on the roster.
“(Transferring) has never crossed my mind,” Brown said. “I’ve always been a guy that’s going to stick to my word and stick to where I’m at. I’ve always said, from the beginning, I came here and I wanted to compete and if that’s how it goes, that’s how it goes. I’m sticking around, I’m still a Buckeye and I want to do everything I can to help this team.”
Even though neither Brown nor McCord has been identified as the frontrunner for the starting job by Day or offensive coordinator Brian Hartline to this point, Brown emphasized that the competition moving into the fall is a good thing for him and his development moving forward.
“We’re trying to get each other better every single day, and that’s all we can ask for,” Brown said. “When you’re with the best competition, you feel like you have to play your best and bring it every day. At the end of the day, we just want what’s best for the team and whoever is going to win that job is that guy.”
