BREAKING: Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord enters transfer portal
COLUMBUS — Ohio State starting quarterback Kyle McCord has entered the transfer portal.
The third-year quarterback and first-year Buckeyes starter will have two years of eligibility elsewhere.
McCord won the starting quarterback job over Devin Brown last offseason in a battle that went into Week 3 of the regular season. He had a good season for the Buckeyes, throwing for 3,170 yards while posting a 24:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Most notably, he orchestrated a memorable game-winning drive at then-No. 9 Notre Dame with 86 seconds remaining and a signature 3rd-and-19 throw in the chamber.
But he didn’t play to the Ohio State standard at times, leading Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day to decline committing to a second year of a McCord-led offense on Sunday afternoon.
Day said the quarterback position was going to be evaluated.
“All things that we’ll look at,” Day said. “And it’s not just in that position. It’s all positions. Trying to figure it out. It’ll be good, too. Just to get out there and have these guys practicing and working. Because there’s a couple different phases to the bowl prep. You kind of have your fundamental period, and then you have your game planning, and then you’re practicing at the bowl site. And there’ll be several practices to kind of get evaluation.
“We’ll be competitive early on in going against each other. And we’ll keep looking at it. Ultimately, it’s going to be who gives you the best chance to win the game. But some of the young guys at certain positions will have an opportunity based on how they practice in the bowl practices.”
McCord has been the target of significant criticism in the wake of Ohio State’s 30-24 defeat at Michigan, the program’s third straight loss to the Wolverines.
As Day said Sunday, a defeat in The Game is “not something that you just move on from.”
The Ohio State coaches and players, including McCord, know that. That said, Day was asked how he’s helped McCord keep his mental health in check throughout the social media storm that’s hardly let up since the loss.
But now McCord is taking a huge step, entering the transfer portal and leaving the Buckeyes program after a year as the starting quarterback of one of the best programs in the country. He’ll try his hand elsewhere.
Lettermen Row will have full coverage of Kyle McCord entering the transfer portal throughout the day on Monday.
