Ohio State right on schedule evaluating quarterback battle

COLUMBUS — It’s Week Two of the Ohio State preseason camp, yet there has been no declaration of a starting quarterback by third-year coach Ryan Day.

The competition has gone just as he said it would, his intent to give C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller and Kyle McCord a good two weeks or so to prove themselves.

Considering the Buckeyes haven’t played any real football so far, what with the full pads not going on until Tuesday morning, it’s been difficult for any of the three quarterbacks to knock the socks off of Day and his coaches anyway. Indeed, what would that take?

“To knock my socks off, huh?” Day said before camp started. “I don’t think you can do that with just one thing. It’s the consistency, day in and day out. When you put the work in in the classroom, so that you have the answers when you’re on the field.”

Then he came up with one. 

“If you can outwork me, or outwork your coach [Corey Dennis], and ask a question about a piece of film that maybe I didn’t see, or something like that?” Day said. “That would knock my socks off.”

Instead, to win the job and be named the successor to Chicago Bears first-round pick Justin Fields involves stepping forward on a laundry list of things, because being named the starting quarterback for Ohio State carries plenty of significance.

“It’s a big deal – as big as it gets, right? Quarterback at Ohio State,” Day said. “That’s as big as it gets.

“And I know they all appreciate that. But I don’t know if at that age they can quite appreciate what this means, especially with the type of team that we have and the surrounding cast around them.”

For a while now, especially since the Ohio State offense has proliferated under Urban Meyer and then Day the past two seasons, it has meant instant celebrity, instant candidacy for the Heisman Trophy, instant frontrunner for first team all-Big Ten. That surrounding cast of wide receivers, running backs, tight ends and linemen promises the same possibilities this season.   

“For sure, that’s half the reason I came here was the brand of Ohio State,” Stroud said. “Definitely the football aspect takes care of itself. But even more than that, honestly, you’re like the face of a city, the face of a state. So I think that’s definitely amazing.”

He was considered the frontrunner going into camp, but he, Miller and McCord (five-star phenom Quinn Ewers out of Texas hasn’t arrived yet as he seeks to forgo his senior high school season to get a jump on college) all understand Day and his staff have no intention of a knee-jerk decision.

What is going to take to gain the nod for the opener at Minnesota on Sept. 2?

“That’s a loaded question, but I’d say just I’m focusing on myself,” said McCord, a freshman from St. Joseph’s Prep School in Philadelphia. “I’m confident in myself that if I go out and do what I’m asked to do and really dial in, I feel like I’ll put myself in a good position.

“But it’s a lot more than just throwing the ball. … It’s how well can you lead the team? Are you accountable? Do you do the right things off the field? So I think it’s really just the lifestyle of being the quarterback, especially at a school like this. So that’s definitely a loaded question, but it’s going to take a lot.”

It’s about stacking one good day at Ohio State on top of another and then another, indicated Miller, a redshirt freshman from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Ariz. 

“We’re all walking in there for the same thing, we all want to start,” Miller said. “We’re just trying to get better every day, trying to go beat Minnesota in Week One.” 

The evaluation process never stops for the three. 

“It’s not just one day, not just one period, not just one drill,” Dennis said. “It’s continuing to be consistent and continuing to go out there and grind and get better. … [It’s about] how they can come out and be the best version of themselves and continue to grow throughout this process.”

It’s more like watching a quarterback direct a 10-play, 75-yard drive than simply rolling right and hooking up on a 75-yard pass that gets the team there in one fell swoop. This is no job to grant based on one big wow moment.

“The guys who invest the most are going to get the most out of it,” Day said. “So how much does it really matter to you? Do you really realize what it means? 

“So if you’re going to wake up early in the morning, and you’re going to go to bed late at night, and you’re going to work really, really hard to figure this out, and this is your life? Then a lot of good things are going to happen.”