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Adam Rittenberg is a senior writer at ESPN
Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord, who started all season for the Buckeyes, entered his name into the transfer portal Monday morning.
McCord, in his third year with the Buckeyes, won the starting job early in the season after competing with Devin Brown. Recruited by coach Ryan Day, he had waited two years behind C.J. Stroud, now the starting quarterback for the Houston Texans, after coming to Ohio State as ESPN’s No. 31 prospect in the 2021 class.
The Philadelphia native had 3,170 receiving yards with 24 touchdown passes and six interceptions, while completing 65.8% of his passes. McCord topped 300 receiving yards three times but also threw two interceptions twice, including in the regular season finale, a 30-24 loss to Michigan that ultimately cost Ohio State a berth in the College Football Playoff for the second time in three years.
“Over time, Kyle got better as the season went on,” Day said Sunday. “He had some ankle injuries that he had, and he showed toughness there. Certainly in the Notre Dame game, he played really well the whole time. So I think there’s been growth there, for sure, and I think he’s a good player.” “I’m a quarterback, I do it. After every year, you evaluate everything, you try to figure out what to do next. But I think there was a lot of progress made this year.”
On Sunday, Ohio State was selected to play Missouri in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on December 29. Day was noncommittal about McCord’s status as the team’s starter when asked about it on Sunday.
“When you fail, the bottom line is you have to look back at everything, because you didn’t get it done, and that’s the troubling thing here,” Day said. “When it’s 11-1, you miss the last possession, and that’s not good enough. So you have to look at everything, and we’ll look at everything.”
The transfer window opened Monday for most college football players, and Ohio State had several other portal entries, including running back Evan Pryor, ESPN’s No. 128 recruit in 2021.
