Ryan Day says Buckeyes backup quarterback Devin Brown will miss time
COLUMBUS — Devin Brown was just beginning to find a new role as the red-zone, rushing quarterback for Ohio State.
His new-found role in the offense will go on pause for ‘a couple of weeks.’ Ohio State coach Ryan Day confirmed that Brown, who injured his ankle on a quarterback run near the goal line during the Buckeyes 20-12 win over Penn State on Saturday, will miss time.
Day said that during his appearance on 97.1 The Fan on Monday evening.
“We’ll kind of see how the week is going to go,” Day said. “It’ll probably be at least a couple of weeks.”
Brown, a redshirt freshman, lost the starting quarterback competition to junior signal caller Kyle McCord after the battle lasted all of spring practice, training camp and the first two weeks of the regular season. He didn’t appear in the wins over Notre Dame or Maryland.
But last week in the win at Purdue, Brown sauntered onto the field as a red-zone quarterback, and it yielded mixed results. Brown had a rushing touchdown for the Buckeyes, but he also fumbled into the end zone on another possession for a costly turnover and a touchback.
“That’s why we did it, to see what it looks like, put it on the field,” Day said after the Devin Brown package was first used at Purdue last weekend. “It’s like one of those things, you’ve just gotta do it, and we did it.
“Now we’ve already worked through one of the issues, hopefully we’re growing from that. But like you said, then you build on it. Because it is different, it does give you a little bit of a different change of pace.”
Brown certainly agreed.
“I think they have to honor me,” Brown said. “I mean, when I got in the game, they’re instantly like, ’33’s in.’ As soon as I get in there, they’re thinking I’m running and something like that, but they’re also worried about the pass game as well.”
This weekend against Penn State, he took two snaps and gained 5 yards, nearly scoring a touchdown on the play on which he was injured. It looked like he was going to impact the Buckeyes win in a major way.
That injury will force Brown onto the shelf, according to Day. And it likely puts a hold on the red zone package the Buckeyes installed specifically to utilize his skillset.
Lettermen Row will have more on the injury to Ohio State backup quarterback Devin Brown when Ryan Day meets with the media Tuesday afternoon.
