Ryan Day jokes about Ohio State's 'backup' quarterback battle entering fall camp

Ryan Day didn’t reveal the Ohio State quarterback at Big Ten Media Days, but joked about the backup quarterback battle ahead of fall camp.

Seemingly, Kyle McCord and Devin Brown are the top two quarterbacks for the Buckeyes, but neither emerged as the starter quite yet. But, Oregon State transfer Tristan Gebbia and freshman Lincoln Keinholz were mentioned by Day as quality depth pieces going into 2023.

So while no starter was named, it seemed like Day narrowed down his choices for the starting quarterback while acknowledging some of the best depth at the position in recent memory.

“Well, I’ll start with Lincoln, Lincoln has stepped in and (I’ve) been very surprised with just his approach,” Day said at Big Ten Media Days. “Been really impressed with how it doesn’t seem too big for Lincoln. He’s very athletic. He’s learned, he’s got a long way to go. He came in in the summer but, excited to have him here.

“Tristan has done a great job being a coach. Being a guy who wants to be a coach, but he’s taken those guys under his wing, understands the offense now at a high level and so he’s gonna help provide that for us. And that’s important because it’s the most depth we’ve had in a long time at the quarterback position, which will allow us to do some things maybe we haven’t done in the past.”

Day pivoted to the starting quarterback battle between Brown and McCord. He was excited about both Ohio State quarterbacks.

“And then you have Devin and Kyle and they both have very good summers,” Day said. “They both have shown leadership … Now it’s going to be time to go put it on the field. And, you know, we obviously would like for someone to emerge here quickly, but, you know, we’ll kind of have to see once we get on the field.”

McCord saw game action in 12 appearances over the course of the last two years, so he has the most experience among the top two. He is 41-of-58 passing (70.7%) for 606 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Brown threw just one pass last season.

So the backup quarterback battle could be just as intriguing as the starting one. Either way, Day didn’t give too much away during Big Ten Media Days.

Although he acknowledged Ohio State dealt with new quarterbacks year-to-year throughout his time and said there might be a case of playing multiple quarterbacks during Game 1.