Devin Brown explains decision to transfer, remain with Ohio State during College Football Playoff

Ohio State QB Devin Brown has spent this month in the NCAA Transfer Portal. However, although he entered his name, he’s also been preparing to play if necessary for the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff.

On Monday, Brown spoke about the dynamics of playing for Ohio State while being in the portal ahead of their quarterfinal tomorrow in The Rose Bowl. He said that, as far as his transfer, it was just the decision that he, his family, and the coaching staff came to.

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“Yeah, um, you know, I just sat down with my family and sat down with the coaches and figured out what was best,” Brown said. “You know, we came to that decision for me to, you know, figure out somewhere else.”

“Yeah, it was definitely hard,” said Brown. “You know, I’ve been here for three years now and I love this place, I love this team. So it’s definitely hard to leave them.”

Still, while he’s having to consider his future elsewhere, Brown is intending to fulfill what he told the program that he’d do in being there for them.

“At the same time, you know, I made a promise to this team and I made a promise to these coaches coming back, you know, after the Cotton Bowl that I was going to help them go win these games and go finish out the season the right way,” said Brown. “I wanted to stick to my word.”

As for how the process is going in handling both, Brown says it’s been a lot easier because of those helping him off the field while he’s focusing himself on it.

“Yeah, it really hasn’t been too hard,” said Brown. “You know, luckily, I got my family to help me with that and, you know, you have agents and stuff like that that can take a lot of that off the plate for you. So I really haven’t had to worry about it much. My focus has been on helping this team win.”

Brown is in the portal after three seasons in Columbus. He has appeared in 17 games in that time and been 27-48 (56.3%) when passing for 331 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.

Now, after being one of several quarterbacks at the position for them, Brown elected to enter the portal earlier in December. He is doing so as the No. 18 QB and the No. 173 overall transfer per the latest in On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players. With that, he has been taking time to consider his transfer options, including a new school involved with him as of yesterday according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Brown has a lot going on at the moment. As for now, though, he’s focusing on the present as the Buckeyes’ QB2 despite being in the middle of a transfer to a new school in this cycle.