Ryan Day, Chip Kelly weigh in on managing QB depth after notable injuries across college football

Wisconsin lost Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending ACL tear during the opening possession of a 42-10 loss to Alabama. Texas lost Quinn Ewers to an oblique strain in the second quarter of a 56-7 win over UTSA.

While Van Dyke is sidelined for the rest of the season, and Ewers is considered week-to-week, both injuries last week served as the yearly, yet always sobering, reminder of just how important depth is at the quarterback position.

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On one hand, Braedyn Locke replaced Van Dyke and struggled to lead the Wisconsin offense to points versus the visiting Crimson Tide. On the other hand, Arch Manning came in for Ewers and totaled five touchdowns for the Longhorns: Manning ripped off a 67-yard touchdown run, and, of his nine completions, four went for scores in front of the DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium faithful.

Granted Locke and Manning were up against much different levels of competition — Alabama is the No. 4 team in the country, and UTSA is an AAC squad off to a 1-2 start — but the contrast between their results was head turning.

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That said, those injuries didn’t change the way Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is approaching the development of his team’s quarterback depth.

“It’s the same thing as it was before watching that on TV,” Day said Tuesday. “We’ve got to build depth at every position. And obviously that’s one. We got four guys in the game last Saturday. That was good. You don’t know what this week’s going to bring. We got to go play Marshall. We got to beat Marshall, and then we’ll figure out the rest of it later.

“If your focus goes anywhere else, I think that’s dangerous. But we’re gonna get these guys reps in practice. And the more game reps we can get them, the better, because we do know that’s gonna be important.”

Ohio State starting quarterback Will Howard played into the third quarter of a 56-0 domination of Western Michigan in Week 2. Howard completed his first 10 passes, threw for 292 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score. Then backup Devin Brown came in and led a touchdown drive, notably dialing up a nice 27-yard completion to sophomore wideout Brandon Inniss along the way. Brown didn’t guide the Buckeyes to points on his next series, however, he finished the night 5-of-5 for 57 yards.

After that, true freshman Julian Sayin got in the game. Sayin completed both of the passes he attempted, the second one ending in a 55-yard, catch-and-run touchdown for third-year tight end Bennett Christian. Redshirt freshman Lincoln Kienholz piloted the final Buckeyes drive, except he didn’t attempt a pass.

“I think Devin and Julian did a nice job when they were in,” Ohio State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly said Tuesday. “Lincoln got three snaps, but it was really late in the game, and that was more handoffs than anything else. But we’ll see how that continues to go.

“You do have to have two quarterbacks, especially when you got to play such a long season. If you’re going to play a 16, 17-game season, at some point in time, one of those guys is going to be called upon during a critical time, and you hope that they get enough reps under their belt that they feel comfortable when they go in there.”

Kelly mentioned, though, that it’s also significant Howard continues to stack snaps as the Buckeyes prepare for Big Ten play. As Kelly pointed out, Howard’s playing his fifth year of college football but his first at Ohio State in a new offensive system.

Kelly said, as coaches, you have to walk a “fine line” between fostering comfortability for a new starter while also building depth at the most influential position with game reps.

“It’s the toughest position to play because you can’t practice it the way you play it,” Kelly said. “What I mean by that, and I don’t care what level it is, quarterbacks don’t get hit in practice. But quarterbacks get hit in games. So it’s a different game for a quarterback when it’s live.

“So to try to balance how many reps does Will need to continue to get better and continue to grow as we finish our last out of conference game here against Marshall and then head into conference play — do we feel like he’s got enough under his belt so that when those situations come up in a game that he’s experienced and ready as an Ohio State player?”

That’s the question, and it’s one Day and Kelly will have to answer Saturday afternoon.