Ryan Day calls Ohio State's quarterback competition a good battle

The Ohio State quarterback battle is raging between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord as the duo seeks to take over the job vacated by No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud. According to head coach Ryan Day, they are neck and neck through the early phases of camp.

Day had let on throughout the spring and summer that a quarterback battle could run for a long while in the lead up to the season and the recent weeks have confirmed that. With about a third of the month of August gone, Day thinks the two are neck and neck.

“It’s a good battle. It’s back and forth, for sure. They know that this week is important to them and the scrimmage on Saturday will be important and they’re constantly putting up numbers on a daily basis and so we’ll compare the statistics but there’s also the eyeball test,” Day said.

Even further down the quarterback depth chart the Buckeyes have competition, as transfer Tristan Gebbia and true freshman Lincoln Kienholz are dueling for the No. 3 quarterback slot.

Day has been impressed with the back-and-forth battle going on there, as well as for the top spot.

“And they’re both competing at a high level and the other guys are doing a good job, too. Tristan and Lincoln are both trying to get better every day so, yeah, it’s back and forth,” Day said.

Strapping the pads on has helped inform the Ohio State quarterback battle

Day recognized that putting pads on as the season approaches is certainly a game-changer. It remains to be seen who Day chooses to lead the team, but he provided some interesting context as to the state of the competition on Wednesday.

“Well the hardest thing about playing the game of football is you don’t really get a feel for what you have until you play the game. I know that sounds silly, but in basketball you can go shoot around and go play against each other in the park, and you know you can go to the batting cages, you can do those things, but in football, how do you really simulate a game? And for a quarterback, how do you simulate the pass rush? It’s impossible to do,” explained Day. “Having 200, 300 pound guys going against each other, you’ve got four of them going on at once right in front of you. And then trying to process what’s going on with the coverages, and the protections and what’s the down and distance in the situation. The ball could be just a little bit off, and the ball gets tipped in the air for an interception, or it’s completed right here for a first down. Or when do you decided to throw it, and pull it down? All these different things, the decision-making processes.

“So you just feel that when you have teamwork. You know, seven-on-seven, you get to see if they have the ability to get it done. But now as you’re starting to see some of the situational things.”