Ryan Day: Redshirt freshman QB Devin Brown out for Ohio State spring game after recent surgery

Ahead of the Ohio State Spring Game, head coach Ryan Day announced that highly-touted redshirt freshman quarterback Devin Brown will miss the game due to a recent surgery, per Letterman Row.

The surgery, according to Day, is on his throwing finger.

“It’s changed a little bit in that Devin actually had a procedure done today on his throwing hand, on his finger,” said Ryan Day. “He’s not going to be able to play on Saturday. He will be throwing again real soon. But he won’t be able to actually play in the game on Saturday.”

This comes as Ohio State searches for its next starting quarterback. With CJ Stroud moving on to the NFL, the Buckeyes need to replace him. Even with this injury, it still very well could be Devin Brown.

Brown was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. In that class, he was the fifth ranked quarterback and the 31st ranked player.

“So we’ve got four quarterbacks that will play. Really important for Kyle [McCord] and Tristan [Gebbia] to compete. But I there’s been really good quarterback play this spring. There’s been a lot of ups and downs along the way. So we’ll kind of see how Saturday goes and then take a look at the spring and go from there.”

Given the context of this injury, Ryan Day was asked if there were similarities to Joe Burrow injuring his hand while competing with Dwayne Haskins.

“I hear what you’re saying. I think in that situation, that happened during the fall, so that really set Joe back that entire fall and then allowed Dwayne to play in the rivalry game, and then helped us win that game, and then turned into a battle in the spring,” Day said.

“This one’s different. Devin’s been practicing the majority of the spring. He’ll miss a couple practices here and then be right back at it. So it’s a setback more than anything else.”

Urban Meyer says the QB decision is big for Ryan Day

Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer says that the decision between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown is a big one for Ryan Day. After all, each of these quarterbacks presents a different style of player.

“I think Devin Brown and Kyle McCord, they’re different [types] of players,” Meyer told On3’s J.D. PicKell on The Hard Count.

“One’s more of a drop-back pocket player and one’s kind of an athlete, run around. I’ve been there. It’s going to be a very strenuous decision because what happens nowadays, when a guy loses a battle, a lot of times, they leave and go start somewhere else, which you can’t fault that player for doing that. This is a big decision.”