Kyle McCord laughed when asked if he gave any thought to leaving Ohio State’s game against Wisconsin after injuring his ankle.
“No,” McCord responded. “It's gonna take a lot for me to take myself out of the game. I mean, I knew I was good enough to continue to play. So that's what I did. There was really never any thought about it.”
The Ohio State quarterback has actually been dealing with a left ankle injury since tweaking it early in the Notre Dame game, then “re-tweaked” it during the third quarter of last Saturday’s game in Madison. The aggravation occurred when a defender landed on McCord’s ankle at the end of a 4-yard run for a first down on a 3rd-and-3 scramble on Ohio State’s final possession of the third quarter, and McCord would be seen limping for the rest of the game.
Despite that injury, McCord played every offensive snap in the Buckeyes’ 24-10 win. While Tristan Gebbia was seen warming up before Ohio State’s first drive of the fourth quarter, McCord told Ryan Day that he was good to continue playing, and Ohio State’s head coach trusted his quarterback.
“He said, ‘Look, I'm gonna be fine. Don't worry about me. I'm good,’” Day said. “Showed a lot of toughness there.”
While McCord acknowledged that the injured ankle has affected his ability to move and throw as he normally would, he said he’s learned how to play with an injured ankle over the past month.
“Obviously it's not ideal, but I’ve been just powering through it and pushing through the pain,” McCord said. “I think the biggest thing is learning how to play with it. And I think it's been getting better every single week. And just learning kind of how to move on it a little bit.”
Coming off of his second practice of the week on Wednesday, McCord said he felt better than he thought he would as he prepares for Ohio State’s ninth game of the season against Rutgers.
“Honestly coming out of the game, I thought it would hurt worse than it does now. So I feel pretty good right now,” McCord said.
McCord will be extra motivated to play at his best this weekend as he returns to his home state of New Jersey to play against the school where his father, Derek McCord, was a quarterback from 1988-92.
“Growing up, that was the team I grew up cheering for, going to their games. And so to kind of see it all come full circle … it's going to be fun,” McCord said. “A bunch of family and friends there.”
While McCord’s ankle was heavily taped for Wednesday’s practice, neither McCord nor Day gave any indication that McCord would be limited in practice this week or in Saturday’s game. Day said he would be cognizant of McCord’s injury in terms of managing his practice reps this week, but that the focus will be on doing whatever needs to be done to win the game as long as McCord is healthy enough to play.
“I think you're always aware of where guys are at. It's a long season. But you gotta do what you gotta do to win the game, too,” Day said. “So that's always a balance that you got to strike for sure.”
“It's gonna take a lot for me to take myself out of the game.”– Kyle McCord on playing with an injured ankle
Having McCord healthy and available is of particular importance to the Buckeyes right now as second-string quarterback Devin Brown works his way back from an ankle injury of his own. Brown was unavailable for last week’s game against Wisconsin, which only increased the importance of McCord finishing out the game with Ohio State leading by only seven points at the time McCord suffered the injury, though Brown has been back on the practice field this week.
None of Ohio State’s other quarterbacks have taken an in-game snap for the Buckeyes, though Gebbia has prior playing experience at Oregon State.
Even so, McCord doesn’t plan on playing overly cautiously. He said he will continue to run the ball when situations for him to gain yardage with his legs present themselves as one did on the play that caused his injury.
“We had a little bit of a quick pass called third-and-short, trying to get the ball out of my hands and get the first down. And I think Wisconsin had a good call. They zoned it out and dropped out underneath, and I just kind of felt that void right there in the middle of the field,” McCord said of that run. “So, you know, third down, if I can scramble up and get a few yards to get the first down, that's what I'm gonna do. And then obviously when he hit me, it didn't feel great. But I think the biggest thing is just trying to keep us on schedule any way I can. If that's tucking my head down and picking up a few yards, that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
