How Kyle McCord or Devin Brown can win Ohio State’s QB competition in the second half of the spring (2024)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The last offensive snap Ohio State football played in 2022 looms large over the search for the quarterback who will take the first one in 2023.

C.J. Stroud came out of preseason camp with a loaded stable of skill position talents. By the time he needed to lead a potential game-winning drive against Georgia, however, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Cade Stover, TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams were all spectators.

And yet, Stroud drove the offense at least into position for a long field goal attempt. Under the circ*mstances, against the eventual repeat national champion, that maneuvering required something special.

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So yes, Kyle McCord and Devin Brown faced some rough sledding last Saturday when the defensive line dominated the Buckeyes’ second scrimmage. As the Peach Bowl proved, though, success in adverse conditions will be required. Day is waiting for what he called an “extraordinary trait” to reveal itself in one of those two competitors.

What is more extraordinary than lifting a more ordinary collection of talent in the most stressful circ*mstances? Day said Stroud’s performances when repping with the second string in the spring of 2021 helped him win OSU’s last quarterback competition.

Everyone wants to know which quarterback is repping more with the ones. It might be time to ask which one is doing more with the twos. The answer may determine whether Day anoints either Brown or McCord by the end of the spring.

“I’d like to see one of the two really step out,” Day said. “I don’t think we’ve seen that yet, but it’d be nice to see one of them kind of separate from the other. But that takes a few practices in a row of consistent play.”

While this quarterback competition is truly open, McCord came into the spring with obvious advantages. His extra year in the program included more game experience — including a start against Akron in 2021. He also served as Stroud’s primary backup last season.

It wasn’t McCord’s job to lose this spring, but by all practical measures, he came in with a lead. Nothing we have seen in practice windows and two scrimmages indicates he lost that position.

McCord led the winning touchdown drive to close the first scrimmage. For much of that day, he and Brown were essentially even. This past Saturday, both struggled to get anything started while the defensive line dominated.

Brown’s perceived edge as a run threat does not necessarily shine in scrimmage scenarios in which the play is blown dead when any defender approaches a quarterback. He does need to work on his poise in the pocket, even when the pocket implodes as often as it did in the second scrimmage.

Both quarterbacks have flashed their arm talent, but that has never been the most crucial element of this battle. Factors such as decision-making, anticipation, ability to turn broken plays into back-breaking big plays — Day has consistently talked about those being the more decisive attributes.

Day’s job here is not an easy one. The mission — pick the quarterback who will lead an offense with national championship aspirations, and standards — is an urgent one. The weight of the decision, though, requires prudence over any artificial deadline.

He and the Buckeyes do not need an answer in the next two weeks, as much as they might wish they had one. This was Day’s response back on on Feb. 1 when asked if he was open to naming a starter by the end of the spring.

“I hope that one of them emerges and we can name a starter — I really do,” Day said. “I think the way our dynamic is, it’d be great for our program to be able to do that.

“There were times in the past where I just didn’t see that happening. I’m hoping that can happen. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But some vision on who the starter is coming out of spring practice would be nice. So I’m hoping that one of them emerges here in these 15 practices.”

No declaration of a firm timeline. No assertion that the Buckeyes needed to name a starter after the spring game. More of a wishing-out-loud moment that either McCord or Brown would seize the job definitively.

With 60% of those practices complete as of Monday, Day is still waiting – and watching for that extraordinary trait.

Tracking Ohio State’s quarterback competition

Will Ohio State football really name a starting quarterback by the end of the spring?

Ryan Day says the QB battle between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord will be a ‘heck of a competition’

Kyle McCord striving to unveil himself as Ohio State football’s quarterback after a lifetime of preparation

How Ohio State’s loss to Georgia — and Tate Martell’s legacy — set up Kyle McCord and Devin Brown’s QB competition

For Ohio State QBs Devin Brown and Kyle McCord, eyes and feet trump arms in search for ‘extraordinary trait’

How Ohio State football quarterbacks Kyle McCord and Devin Brown looked in first spring practice

Evaluating Ohio State QBs Kyle McCord and Devin Brown in the March 25 scrimmage

Ohio State QB update after Student Appreciation Day scrimmage

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