Ryan Day addresses timeline for Ohio State quarterback battle

Ryan Day isn’t going to be naming a starting quarterback anytime soon.

The race to replace Heisman finalist CJ Stroud is comprised of Ohio State quarterbacks Kyle McCord and Devin Brown are about as even as it can get. This remains true heading into summer workouts, as Brown missed the team’s spring game after undergoing minor surgery on a finger on his throwing hand while McCord took the majority of first-team snaps during the showcase.

Day discussed the timeline he will go through with McCord and Brown. Surprisingly, the Ohio State head coach might not know what he has until the season actually starts.

“It’s hard to project. You have to figure that out when you can through scrimmages. We try to segment as long as we can, but we have situations where you have to move it,” Day told PicKell. “We have to move the ball down the field, even if that means checking it down, fit it into a tight window. Sometimes, you have to cut your losses.

“People talk about [having] ‘it,’ but what is, ‘it?’ Well, those are all the things. Sometimes we have two of three of those [moments] in a game. When we had CJ [Stroud] two years ago in that game against Minnesota — you don’t know until you play them. We’ll do the best we can to evaluate them, continuing to evaluate them in August and let them play in September.”

McCord used the opportunity to play in the spring game to complete 18-of-34 passes for 184 yards and one touchdown. Even more, McCord is entering his third season in Day’s offense and to that regard, his experience trumps Browns.

Still, there’s a reason Day hasn’t named McCord the official starter, and it’s because Brown has made it difficult to rule him as the clear backup. He’s an athletic option, but hasn’t been able to show off his arm talent the way that McCord was able to during last month’s spring showcase. Even with an injury keeping him out of action, Day like what he has with his top two options under center.

Expect Ohio State to take its time naming the official starter. Two years ago, Day and his coaching staff waited until late August to officially name then-redshirt freshman CJ Stroud as the starter for the 2021 season. The same thing happened with Justin Fields in 2019. Both of those ended up working out very nicely for Day and the Buckeyes.