Kirk Herbstreit believes Ohio State will be 'outstanding' regardless of their quarterback

Kirk Herbstreit believes Ohio State will be something special in 2023, regardless of who’s at quarterback for the Buckeyes.

Starting the season under center will be Kyle McCord, with Devin Brown having a shot at seeing some action as well. However, Herbstreit believes that with Ryan Day‘s offensive system, and the talent around the position, Ohio State will be more than fine, regardless of who’s playing quarterback.

“I think Ohio State has a chance to be outstanding,” explained Herbstreit. “Ryan Day, the way he coaches, I don’t want to say it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is, but his system speaks for itself. The quarterback success that he’s had. By the way, so much focus on Kyle McCord and Devin Brown, it’s what’s around the position. The play-calling. The offensive line looks stout. Marvin Harrison Jr. Emeka Egbuka. They are loaded. NFL talent around the position.

“So I think the important thing for both quarterbacks, starting with McCord, is just don’t feel like you have to come up and try to be a guy that’s going to live up to the standard of the last few quarterbacks. Just be yourself. Go out, hand it off. Hit the short pass. They give you one over the top, take it. But don’t feel like you have to have 80-yard-touchdowns every play. I think both will play just fine when they get their chance today.”

Alas, it’s evident Kirk Herbstreit is a big time believer in Ohio State, but it’ll be up to whichever quarterback is on the field for the Buckeyes to make believers out of the rest of the college football world moving forward.

Ryan Day shares Ohio State will have a playing time plan for quarterbacks in Week 1

Meanwhile, Ohio State has a starting quarterback for Saturday’s season opening game at Indiana in Kyle McCord, but head coach Ryan Day has made clear he plans for challenger Devin Brown to play as well. And he’s got a plan.

McCord will start the game and Day seems intent on giving him time to settle in and play before going to Brown, who he wants to give “meaningful snaps” to. He’s got it pretty well worked out with his staff, but Day acknowledged the ebbs and flows of the game will shape when and how Brown gets into the game.

“We’re putting together a plan on kind of how we see it play out,” Day said. “And then as the game goes on, we’ll get a feel for what we think gives us the best chance to win. But we’ll certainly have a plan going into the start of the game.”

The plan for Week 1 isn’t necessarily going to be the same for Week 2, either. Day explained earlier in the week that as more game tape gets put down, he’ll have more to go on.

Eventually, one of the two quarterbacks is likely to become the full-time starter as Day has no intentions of a back-and-forth all season long.

“In practice, you see certain things but to get tackled and to move the team down the field, finish off drives, do well on third down, do well in the red zone, that’s going to continue to play itself out during the season. And there’s been teams that have done this similar before,” Day said. “And ultimately I told the guys when I met with them today, the goal is to go win championships. And when the season’s all said and done, the story is going to be written.”

On3’s Andrew Graham contributed to this article.