Buckeyes QB battle takes center stage ahead of training camp
COLUMBUS — Ohio State coach Ryan Day is no stranger to sorting through a quarterback battle.
He went through this in 2018, when Dwayne Haskins was crowned the starting quarterback for Day, who was the Buckeyes offensive coordinator at the time. And it happened again in 2019, when Justin Fields solidified his role as the starter in training camp. The Buckeyes replaced Fields with C.J. Stroud, who earned the starting role a few weeks into training camp in 2021, as well.
So this is not new to Ryan Day. But it’s still an unknown between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord as the Buckeyes open camp on Thursday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
“You just never know how it’s all going to shake,” Day said Wednesday. “We’ve had this before going back with C.J., Justin, Dwayne, where after the first couple of weeks of fall practice, we felt like somebody emerged. And then we went with the starter. But that evaluation continued into the season. … You just never know how things are going to go. But in an ideal world, you’d love to have somebody emerge after the first week or two.”
Whether one of the two between Brown and McCord will emerge — or if both will — between now and the Sept. 2 opener at Indiana remains to be seen. But Day did make sure to add that whoever wins the job, he expects them to play at a championship level. That level also includes the expectations that come with playing quarterback at Ohio State.
The last three starting quarterbacks for the Buckeyes have been Heisman Trophy finalists and first-round picks. That’s becoming the standard for quarterback play at Ohio State. And it’s not easy to live up to all of it.
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“They’re going to battle it out,” Day said. “It started in the spring, continued into the summer, and now here we are. First day of summer practice starting tomorrow.”
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Lettermen Row’s Spencer Holbrook, Andy Backstrom and Tim May are back inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as Lettermen Row heard from the three quarterbacks and head coach Ryan Day. The crew breaks down what it heard from the Buckeyes ahead of the start of training camp on Thursday. Watch here or on the Lettermen Row Youtube channel, and make sure to subscribe to that channel for more Buckeyes breakdown videos.
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