Evaluating the questions within Ohio State's offense

Ahead of the start of the 2023 college football season, On3’s J.D. PicKell has been keeping fans up to date with the latest in college football. In one of the recent episodes of The Hard Count, the college football expert gave his prediction on the Ohio State Buckeyes record. But before he did, he addressed the expectations for the Buckeyes, according to head coach Ryan Day and discussed his concerns about their offense.

“Ryan Day talked about it in our interview. We asked him at the end of that interview have you communicated expectations to your guys in-house, with this off-season, how you guys are approaching,” said PicKell. “And he’s like, ‘Listen, the standard is the standard. We know what the standard is; our guys, they know what the standard is — to win the rivalry game.’ He made it a point to not say Michigan. And it’s winning the Big Ten, and it’s winning a national title.

“So Ohio State hasn’t done that the last two years. And the real question, for me and for I think most of the country, is who’s playing quarterback? Heck, that might be the real question for Ohio State internally. And they’re going let them battle it out. They’re going to let him get after it, whether it’s Devin Brown or Kyle McCord. It’s a five-star problem. Like, literally, you have two five-stars in your quarterback room. A lot of coaches would do a lot of things to have that.”

Arguably the most prominent storyline concerning Ohio State is who will replace the second overall pick from the 2023 NFL Draft in former Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud. Stroud kept Ohio State’s offense as one of the most potent units in college football during his tenure there, thanks to his abilities in the pocket and the arsenal of playmakers he had at his disposal. But now he is gone and currently a member of the Houston Texans, and the question is, who will replace him? But really, for PicKell, that is the only question Ohio State needs to answer offensively.

“Outside of the quarterback position, I don’t have a ton of questions. Like the offensive skill players are ridiculous. You got Marvin Harrison Jr., who legitimately, position aside, could be the best player in college football. You got an absolute freak show playing receiver for you. TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, they’re going to run the football, I would imagine, very effectively; Emeka Egbuka. Like you go down the list here, so much talent offensively.”

Fans will get their first chance to see just who the Buckeyes are on the field next season when they take on Big Ten rival Indiana on the road in Week 1. If Ohio State has yet to find a solution at quarterback by then, we will know it. And if they haven’t, it could be a long year for Day and the Buckeyes.