Before his freshman season at Ohio State was even over, Kyle McCord’s Twitter and Instagram accounts became inundated with messages from fans of other schools encouraging him to transfer to their teams.
In the modern world of college football, it wasn’t unreasonable for people to think McCord might look for an opportunity to play somewhere else in 2022 rather than wait his turn behind C.J. Stroud for another year. After all, that’s exactly what Quinn Ewers decided to do after just four months at Ohio State.
McCord, however, says he never considered entering the transfer portal this offseason. To that end, he thought it was pretty crazy that anyone even thought he should transfer so soon after arriving at Ohio State.
“It's ridiculous,” McCord said Wednesday. “I mean, especially now with the transfer portal, I feel like if something isn't going the way a guy expected it to, fans and even the player might think I can just put my name in the portal and change a situation like that. But I think you just have to see the bigger picture of it. I mean, what more could I want being at a school like this, getting coached by the best coaches in the world?
“So I didn't really even think about it at all, to be honest. And I think you just gotta see the bigger picture. I mean, yeah, do I want to play this year? Of course, but I think you gotta look at it from a long-term perspective.”
Going into his sophomore season at Ohio State, McCord fully understands the reality that he will likely spend most of the year watching from the sideline once again. While he got a chance to compete for the starting job going into last year, Stroud is firmly established as Ohio State’s starting quarterback now after breaking several school passing records and finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy race in 2021.
McCord will likely get the chance to compete for the starting quarterback job next year, assuming Stroud enters the 2023 NFL draft, and he could enter that competition as the frontrunner to win the job. Although he remains close with Ewers and Jack Miller, he acknowledges that their decisions to leave made his decision to stay easier, as he’s now positioned to be the most veteran quarterback on the roster after Stroud departs.
He’ll still have to compete with Devin Brown and any other quarterback(s) Ohio State brings in next offseason to win the starting job, but McCord says he isn’t thinking about that right now. For now, McCord is keeping his focus on improving at his craft and being prepared to play when called upon this season.
“When those two guys made their decisions to leave, I think it definitely kind of cleared up everything,” McCord said. “I think there's still a long way to go from now until next year, so I'm just focused on the present. But when you look at the long-term picture, I guess you could say it cleared itself up.”
Day has been telling McCord since he arrived at Ohio State that he needs to be ready to play at any time, and McCord got a first-hand taste of that in the fourth week of last season, when he started the Buckeyes’ non-conference finale against Akron while Stroud got a week off to rest his injured shoulder. McCord says that experience was valuable as it showed him what it really takes to be successful as a college starting quarterback.
“That's just a huge learning point in my career, I think, going through that whole week of preparation and learning how to prepare like you're the starter,” McCord said. “You're the guy watching the film and then getting extra reps after practice, just getting specific timings of the route tree down with the guys. And then going into the game, there are different things like you'll practice something and scout the exact way during the week and then you get a completely different look during the game and adjusting to it on the fly was good. So I think just having that under my belt now is a huge confidence boost from now on out.”
McCord’s performance was inconsistent across five total game appearances last season, in which he completed 25 of 38 combined passing attempts for 416 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. But now that he’s been at Ohio State for more than a full year, he’s feeling far more confident in his ability to run the Buckeyes’ offense.
“It's night and day, it really is,” McCord said. “I think when you go through a full offseason and then a full season and then another full offseason, you see things from a different perspective. And I think just picking up on the little details now is really the biggest thing, and I think that's where I've grown the most. The game’s slowing down, so I think just the combination of all that is just a confidence-booster when you step out there in the field.
“I feel like I'm at a totally different comfort level, seeing things quicker, anticipating.”
“I think you just have to see the bigger picture of it. I mean, what more could I want being at a school like this, getting coached by the best coaches in the world?”– Kyle McCord on staying at Ohio State
Day has been pleased with McCord’s development in his second spring as a Buckeye, as well as his unwavering commitment to the program.
“I think he's had a good spring,” Day said this week. “Having a whole year under his belt now, he's that much better. And he's competitive. He wants to be at Ohio State. He's made that clear to us. And he's gonna be ready, in that first game, if he needs to be in that game. That's the thing is when you feel like you're the backup, sometimes you feel like you're miles away, but you’re only one snap away. And I think he understands that and he understands what it means to get developed. And I think that's what his focus has been on.”
Stroud has also been impressed with the growth he’s seen from his understudy.
“He's become much more mature,” Stroud said Wednesday. “He knows the offense better. He's moving around the pocket more. He's getting a lot more reps. He’s just being himself. I think your first year, it's kind of more so, you're just trying to feel it out. And I think that's a good thing that he's done. And I think this year, he's kind of putting his foot down and being a leader and trying to help out with the offense and become better.”
McCord certainly wants to be Ohio State’s next starting quarterback after Stroud, and he wouldn’t still be at Ohio State if he didn’t believe he will win the job when that time comes. But he’s trying not to get caught up in worrying about what will happen a year from now, knowing that will only take away from what he needs to do right now, which is continuing to develop and being ready to play if anything happens to Stroud.
“I'm just worried about right now getting better every day,” McCord said. “I'm not really looking into the future like that. I think it's easy to get caught up thinking about that and thinking, ‘If C.J.’s gone, I could be the guy.’ But I think the biggest thing right now is just focusing on the present and being where my feet are and just getting better every day. Because that's ultimately how you get better. I'm not going to get better looking at the future and dreaming about it, I'm going to get better just being in the present working.”
