Pete Thamel explains why Ohio State QB Kyle McCord entered transfer portal

Not every day does the Ohio State quarterback enter the NCAA transfer portal. Kyle McCord beat out Devin Brown for the job in the fall and just a few months later, he is now looking for a new home. According to the On3 2024 transfer portal rankings, McCord is the No. 6 player to enter thus far, sitting behind four other quarterbacks.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel explained the reasoning behind the decision for McCord, saying there was change coming in Columbus. The stat sheet looked pretty for McCord, throwing for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns on the season.

But Ryan Day knows if Ohio State is going to get back to beating Michigan and contending for a national championship, a truly elite quarterback has to be playing. McCord decided his best move was to look elsewhere.

“Ryan Day was pretty clear in his comments yesterday that they were going to evaluate everything at Ohio State,” Thamel said. “And Kyle McCord was part of that evaluation, obviously. He and his camp felt like they didn’t have a guarantee to start, so Kyle McCord goes on the open market, and he becomes one of the top players in the NCAA Transfer Portal.”

McCord just wrapped up his first season as a starter at Ohio State. The bar was set pretty high, with Justin Fields and CJ Stroud being the two guys for Day before McCord. Both of them are now in the NFL, with Stroud running away with Rookie of the Year with the Houston Texans and Fields continuing to impress with the Chicago Bears.

While he may have not lived up to the standard this year, there is still plenty of potential to unlock when working with McCord. Thamel believes the quarterback will still land at a big-time program and have the opportunity to compete against the best competition college football has to offer.

“McCord has got a flood of interest, sources told me today,” Thamel said. “And he would be considered among the top five-to-seven quarterbacks. If I had given you guys a list of the marquee programs that need quarterbacks, it would double as a list of the top 25 quarterbacks in the country.

“It’s everybody from USC and Oregon, to the biggest programs in the SEC, to the biggest ones in the Big Ten. So it is a dynamic market now where there is more demand than there is supply in terms of successful quarterbacks.”