Ryan Day on the reaction of Ohio State on naming CJ Stroud starter

C.J. Stroud will officially open the season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. Following a competition with Kyle McCord and Jack Miller, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day named Stroud as the starter on Saturday. Day said that after the announcement, not much changed for any of the three quarterbacks. Now the focus shifts to continuing development moving forward.

Stroud was the leader in the quarterback battle throughout camp

It comes as no surprise to see Stroud as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. Ryan Day has said that Stroud was leading the competition. The redshirt freshman completed 16 of his 22 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns in Ohio State’s spring game.

When asked on Saturday about Stroud’s reaction to being named the starter, Day said that while he was excited, Stroud understands that nothing changes in his preparation.

“I mean he was excited for sure. Fired up,” Day said. “He’s not an overly emotional guy in those types of situations. I think he knows that this is just an opportunity. It’s not an accomplishment, it’s an opportunity and I think he looked at it like that. Now we’ve got to go about the business of putting it out on the field.”

Stroud threw for 3,878 yards and 47 touchdowns as a high school senior, with just 15 interceptions on 754 pass attempts in his high school career.

Day: Continued development of other quarterbacks will be important

Despite Stroud being named the starter, Kyle McCord, Jack Miller, and freshman Quinn Ewers need to continue growing for Ohio State. Injuries play a role in every football season, so having other guys ready to step in is something that Day wants to have. Day has communicated with the other quarterbacks throughout the process.

“They’ve all been communicated with on what they’ve done well because they’ve all improved,” Day said when asked about the response in the quarterback room to Stroud being named the starter. “But there’s certain areas that they need to continue to improve on and it’s all about development. Everybody’s journey, especially in the quarterback world, is different when you think about some of the greatest quarterbacks to every play the game. It didn’t all come at once for them.

“You just never know what’s going to happen so those guys have to continue to work on developing and get ready. But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been impressed with their approach to it, their response to it, and they’re ready to continue to work.”