Kyle McCord's ankle 'feeling pretty good,' set for Rutgers matchup
COLUMBUS — The tape on Kyle McCord’s left ankle after practice Wednesday says he’s hobbled. So did the way he limped his way through the fourth quarter Saturday night at Wisconsin.
But ask McCord if he’s feeling fine a few days later, and he’ll tell you he’s absolutely able to play Saturday afternoon when the Buckeyes take on Rutgers, the team McCord grew up rooting for.
“We’re at that point in the year where no one’s quite 100 percent,” McCord said Wednesday night after practice in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. “And so I think just playing through it, and obviously, I could continue playing on it and then got back, got some treatment on it.
“So got it feeling pretty good right now.”
McCord originally injured that left ankle in the win over Notre Dame. Of course, he finished that game with a methodical last-minute drive to take down the Fighting Irish on the road. But he had an idle week to rest and recover following that win.
This week — not so much. He’ll need to be good to go for the top-ranked Buckeyes on Saturday in Piscataway. His ankle is hurting, sure. But he’s going to play, no questions asked.
“It’s not ideal,” McCord said. “Just powering through it, pushing through the pain. The biggest thing is learning how to play with it. And I think it’s been getting better every single week. And, you know, just learning how to move on it a little bit and stuff like that.”
Even with a bothersome ankle, McCord has the Ohio State offense at 8-0 and entering November as the best team in college football, according to the College Football Playoff committee. The offense has progressed each week, even with some mistakes its first-year starting quarterback has made along the way.
For McCord, he knows he needs to be better than the three turnovers he had last week at Wisconsin. But he also knows that he’ll have to be better on an injured ankle.
It didn’t keep him off the field for extra work inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center after practice Wednesday night, though. And it certainly won’t keep him out of the lineup moving forward.
“Coming out of the game, I thought it would hurt worse than it does now,” he said. “So I feel pretty good right now.”
Kyle McCord is good to go for Ohio State on Saturday, no matter how much tape is on that left ankle.
