Ryan Day provides update on Kyle McCord’s development amid quarterback battle

Kyle McCord and Devin Brown have been competing for Ohio State‘s starting quarterback job this offseason, but a recent injury to Brown will not allow him to participate in the Buckeyes spring game this Saturday. This will put a majority of the spotlight on McCord for the Buckeyes, which head coach Ryan Day spoke about on Wednesday.

“It’s another step in his progression, I think he’s done some good things this spring,” Day said. “Again, brings three years of experience under his belt here so he know the offense, he does a great job in the meeting able to take concepts to the field. He’s made some really nice throws, he’s acurate, and he’s shown the ability to lead the team down the field to score.”

McCord is a former five-star prospect who was ranked the No. 5 quarterback in the nation coming out of high school in 2021 according to On3’s Industry Rankings. He’s spent the last two seasons behind CJ Stroud, but this year could be his to be the Buckeyes starter, a journey that could start on Saturday once fans get the latest look at their potential QB1 of the future.

“So again another great opportunity for him, and some of it has been with new receivers, talented receivers but new receivers. And so a great opportunity for him to go out there and put that on the field and feel like okay, I gotta game in The Shoe under my belt even though it’s a spring game,” Day said.

McCord saw limited action in seven games last season for the Buckeyes, but did make a start in his freshman season versus Akron where he completed 72.2% of his passes for 319 yards and two touchdowns. McCord said he’s come a long way since that game, but Day was not ready to answer if he would feel fully comfortable with him under center if Ohio State had a game tomorrow.

“It’s hard to say right now because there’s still so much more to go here, I don’t think anyone’s really ready to play right now,” Day said. “So we’ll kind of keep building and keep growing and see where we’re at in August because in the offseason these guys get an opportunity to get bigger, stronger, watch the spring cut ups, throw on their own, things like that. And then we have all the practices in August so we don’t have to worry about playing a game right now, so we’ll just keep working.”

Only time will tell of McCord will be Ohio State’s quarterback next season, but a strong performance in Saturday’s spring game surely wouldn’t hurt his campaign.