Assessing the chances Ohio State takes a quarterback out of the portal

With the departure of starter Kyle McCord to the transfer portal, Ohio State seemed like a prime spot to land a transfer quarterback. But that might not be the case right now.

As things currently stand, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes are probably content to stand pat at the quarterback position during the current 30-day NCAA transfer portal window, On3’s Pete Nakos shared with Andy Staples. That means season-long backup Devin Brown is the presumed starter for now, with others waiting in the wings.

“I am not anticipating them pursuing a quarterback in this 30 day cycle. Now, if some quarterback entering the spring, I could definitely see Ryan Day and the Buckeyes definitely at least just checking at the market, seeing what’s there. They have Devin Brown, they have Lincoln Kienholz. They’re really high on Lincoln Kienholz. Then you have Air Noland coming in. He’s going to sing his NLI and arrive in January, from my understanding, tomorrow. And they really love Air. So I think they’re confident with those three guys,” Nakos said.

The current state of the quarterback room might be satisfactory, but that doesn’t mean Day’s opinion can’t change or the pool of available quarterbacks changes. If someone the Buckeyes particularly like shows up in the portal down the line, or if something happens in-house that changes their opinion of the room, they could become buyers at the position.

As of mid-December, though, things are likely to hold steady in Columbus.

“But yeah, if you’re Ryan Day you just lost Kyle McCord, I think you’re definitely going to want to bring someone in who has experience. I just don’t think that’s going to happen here,” Nakos said.

Nakos did note one quarterback who was in touch with Ohio State — DJ Uiagalelei — but that the preliminary conversations didn’t lead anywhere. Uiagalelei recently took a visit to Florida State and it appears things will need to run their course with the Seminoles before any sort of other decision gets made, if things even go that far. A commitment to the ACC outfit would render the point moot, anyways.

“DJ U and Ohio State had a very preliminary, like, ‘Hey, haven’t seen you in a while’ kind of conversation. But we’ll see how things shake out there at Florida State. I don’t know if DJ would like to go to Ohio State, but there was definitely a very quick, simple conversation,” Nakos said.