Devin Brown has prepared all year for the chance to be Ohio State’s starting quarterback. He’s excited to finally get that chance in the Buckeyes’ final game of the season.
While Ryan Day hasn’t yet publicly named a starting quarterback for the Cotton Bowl, Brown indicated Tuesday that he expects to start against Missouri on Dec. 29 after Kyle McCord entered the transfer portal. And he’s going into that game with confidence he can show he should be Ohio State’s starting quarterback next year, too.
“I'm pumped. I mean, I can't believe my first start’s going to be in the Cotton Bowl,” Brown said. “It's a big stage against a really good team. It's a top-10 matchup. And I'm just excited to go out there and show what I can do.”
Brown said he didn’t know until McCord entered the transfer portal last week that McCord was planning to leave the team. But now that he has another opportunity to become Ohio State’s starting quarterback, he wants to seize it and take full advantage of it.
“I wish the best of luck for Kyle, that's one of my closest friends. And I hope he goes and does big things,” Brown said. “But then again, I'm excited to go play and finally show what I can do and have fun with this team.”
While Brown competed with McCord to be the starting quarterback through the first two games of the regular season, he played only sparingly the rest of the year. Ohio State started to get him more involved midseason when it introduced a red-zone package that utilized Brown as a runner near the goal line against Purdue and Penn State, but Brown never got another opportunity to play in the regular season after injuring his ankle in the Penn State game.
Brown reinjured that ankle during pregame warmups before Ohio State’s November game against Michigan State, but said Tuesday he is fully healthy now as the Buckeyes begin a full week of bowl practices.
Despite watching from the sideline for most of the season, Brown said he prepared every week as if he was the starter, knowing there was always the possibility he could be called into action if anything happened to McCord. But he feels like he can assert himself more as a leader now that he’s positioned to be the starter.
“All year, I've always prepared like I was the starter. It's definitely different knowing you're getting a lot more reps,” Brown said. “So yeah, there's nothing to look over my shoulder for or anything. Just to go out and have fun and play my game.”
“I can't believe my first start’s going to be in the Cotton Bowl. It's a big stage against a really good team. It's a top-10 matchup. And I'm just excited to go out there and show what I can do.”– Devin Brown
Brown indicated that he has been taking the reps with the first-team offense, but said Lincoln Kienholz – who’s expected to be Brown’s top backup against Missouri – has also been working hard in practice to show what he can do.
“Lincoln’s trying to get himself better every day,” Brown said. “He's a really good athlete, and he's doing everything he can just as I am to be the starter. So he's going to keep working. We've been together in the film room and in the weight room together, so it's good to compete still.”
Starting in the Cotton Bowl doesn’t necessarily mean Brown will be Ohio State’s starter next season. There’s still the possibility that the Buckeyes could bring in a transfer quarterback, while Kienholz will likely get a more real opportunity to compete for the starting job in the offseason.
But Brown is viewing the Cotton Bowl as his first opportunity to audition for next year’s starting job.
“Yeah, definitely,” Brown said. “I mean, it's gonna be a coming-out party, and it's a good opportunity for me to show what I can do in this game.”
Regardless of whether Ohio State opts to bring in another quarterback, Brown said he has no intention of entering the transfer portal himself. He indicated that much last week when he tweeted a picture of burning boats – his way of saying there’s no turning back – and he doubled down on that sentiment Tuesday.
“One thing that I've always said is I'm a competitive guy and that I would like to go out and compete. So it doesn't matter what's going on, I'm always just gonna sink all my chips in here,” Brown said. “That's why I came here was to be the best I can be here.
“My focus is on being the starting quarterback at Ohio State,” Brown added later. “I've never cared about who was in the room or anybody that was coming.”
— Devin Brown (@dbrownqb33) December 5, 2023
For now, the first goal for Brown is just to lead Ohio State to a win over Missouri. And his Buckeye teammates are confident in his ability to do that.
“We always knew he's been ready,” Emeka Egbuka said. “Even when Kyle was injured or something like that, if Devin had to come in, we knew he was going to get the job done. So it's no different with the Cotton Bowl.”
