Ohio State quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis works with the quarterbacks during the first preseason practice on Aug. 4. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Time is running out for Ohio State to decide who will lead its offense in the 2021-22 campaign.
With less than a month until the Buckeyes kick off their season on the road against Minnesota, head coach Ryan Day has yet to decide who will be behind center this season. As fall camp opened Wednesday, redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Miller — a four-star recruit from the class of 2020 — said competing is one of the primary reasons he came to Ohio State.
“It’s a very rare situation and I mean that’s what you come to Ohio State for, though,” Miller said. “At the end of the day, you come here to compete and be in the room with the best guys in the country. And now we’re doing it.”
Throughout the spring and summer months, the competition was confined to three quarterbacks — Miller, redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud and true freshman Kyle McCord. But, in a surprising move, Quinn Ewers — the former No. 1 recruit of the 2022 class — decided to graduate high school one year early and begin his college football career with the Buckeyes in 2021.
With potentially four talented arms all vying for the same job, McCord said his focus remains on what he can control.
“I feel like just taking care of what I can take care of –– being a leader and controlling all the things that take no talent, being on time, being accountable and things like that –– I think are definitely some of the areas I’m trying to focus in on,” McCord said. “Then just getting to a point where I know the playbook like the back of my hand and I can just let my talent speak for itself.”
Arriving in Columbus in January, McCord used the spring to get acclimated to the structure and culture within the Ohio State football program.
The Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, native said he felt he used the offseason months well towards developing his skill set.
“I thought the spring was a great opportunity for me to learn. Getting here in January, I thought it really helped me get a headstart on the playbook,” McCord said. “I feel like around practice 11 or 12, I started hitting my stride and started getting comfortable. I feel like I did pretty good in the spring game too, so I was just trying to use that momentum going into the summer and I felt I had a really productive summer as well.”
While McCord needed a period to adjust to the college football lifestyle, Stroud and Miller had already spent a year in the system behind NFL first round pick Justin Fields.
With a year to learn under Fields, Miller emphasized the importance of his time with the now-Chicago Bears quarterback.
“I mean watching him every single day, he comes with the same energy, the same mindset, the same approach to practice every single day. No matter if it’s a walkthrough or a Tuesday full-padded practice, he’s coming out there to get better,” Miller said. “It was really impressive for me to see it because I’ve never seen anything like that to be honest.”
With Fields serving as a leadership guide for the young quarterbacks, Day pointed to leadership and consistency as key factors that will play into his decision on who gets the starting job.
In terms of leadership, Stroud said he feels that he has natural leadership qualities that help him in that aspect of the position.
“That was kind of like my strong suit. I think more like being vocal and just things off the field,” Stroud said. “I have natural leadership abilities and just really honing that and showing everybody that I should be the leader of the team.”
On the consistency front, Stroud pointed to the overall need to be consistent in order to be successful.
“Anything in life, to be successful, you have to be consistent at it,” Stroud said. “We kind of have a saying in the room: ‘You’re not allowed to have a bad day.’ So, not having any bad days is honestly how you get the job done.”
Although the race for the starting job continues to heat up with the start of fall camp, Stroud said there is strong camaraderie in the quarterback room and they all push each other to improve.
“I mean we compete as brothers and we understand that we all want the same goal. But, there’s not any aspect that we hate each other. We’re all brothers, we all love each other,” Stroud said. “It’s just the culture of ‘fight’ and the culture of Ohio State. Our structure is just competition.”
