Ryan Day was asked during his most recent press conference about the quarterback position for the Buckeyes' appearance in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri and for next season, and Day was non-committal about the position or McCord having an advantage in holding down the spot for 2024.
This apparently led to some ill feelings about the situation and as soon as the portal officially opened this morning, McCord filed his name into the system for the right to shop his services.
McCord was solid but not excellent in his only season starting for Ohio State, throwing for 3,170 yards, and completing sixty-five percent of his passes with twenty-four touchdowns against six interceptions but may be remembered most for leading the game-winning drive in South Bend to defeat Notre Dame and throwing the interception that snuffed out the final possession in a six-point loss to Michigan.
McCord did play through much of the season with an ankle injury that made him less mobile than the usual Ohio State quarterback and he did seem to lack chemistry with the receivers other than Marvin Harrison Jr. and maybe Cade Stover but Ohio State lacked the explosiveness that they possessed under C.J. Stroud with the same star skill position players around McCord, so the only assumption to make is some of that (at least) had to be placed on McCord.
Ryan Day had to be a little disappointed with McCord's play, especially with the constant comparisons to Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, who wanted to attend Ohio State but Day chose McCord instead as his quarterback of choice in that recruiting class, and when you consider the pressure under Day and the program entering next season, it's not unfair for Day to re-open the competition between McCord, Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz and incoming freshman Air Noland to attempt a clean break from a underwhelming offensive season.
McCord's decision leaves Ryan Day with an interesting opportunity for the Cotton Bowl to give Devon Brown and Lincoln Kienholz significant playing time against a good team in Missouri.
I'd even go as far as to give each player two quarters of play as the Cotton Bowl is basically an exhibition game anyway.
I don't think that this will hurt Ryan Day in the future with quarterbacks, if anything it may help him as a quarterback who may not want to sit behind a starter, particularly one not playing well (past or present) will now know that Day won't hesitate to play the best player and not adhere to loyalty as Urban Meyer had been known to do.
Ohio State now could play in the portal itself for a one-year stopgap at the position with Riley Leonard, formerly of Duke, and Will Howard, formerly of Kansas State, as the biggest portal prizes available as of now.
In the end, Kyle McCord was a good quarterback who played in the shadow of three of the best quarterbacks in program history.
McCord and Ryan Day are finding out that when you don't beat Michigan for three seasons in a row, good will never be good enough at Ohio State.
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