Devin Brown, Zen Michalski and Kojo Antwi will likely all be playing for different college football teams next season, but they won’t be going anywhere until Ohio State’s College Football Playoff run comes to an end.
Facing the likelihood that they would remain backups if they stayed at Ohio State next season, Brown, Antwi and Michalski each decided to enter the transfer portal earlier this month. But while five of their teammates (Air Noland, Jayden Ballard, Miles Walker, Gabe Powers and Jayden Bonsu) opted to move on from the Buckeyes before the CFP to begin the transfer process, Antwi, Brown and Michalski have remained full members of the team with their sights set on doing anything they can to help Ohio State to win a national championship.
The most high-profile member of the trio is Brown, who remains Ohio State’s backup quarterback despite entering the portal. Brown competed for Ohio State’s starting quarterback job before each of the past two seasons, but lost those competitions to Kyle McCord in 2023 and Will Howard in 2024. While Ohio State will have a new starting quarterback again next year with Howard in his final season of collegiate eligibility, Julian Sayin is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the job, so Brown decided it was in his best interest to look elsewhere for a better opportunity to start.
First, though, Brown is committed to fulfilling the promise he made to Ohio State and its coaches before the season that he would be all in with the Buckeyes to help them compete for a national championship regardless of whether he won the starting job.
“I just sat down with my family and sat down with the coaches and figured out what was best. We came up with that decision for me to figure out somewhere else,” Brown told Eleven Warriors at Monday’s Rose Bowl media day. “But at the same time, I made a promise to this team and I made a promise to these coaches coming back after the Cotton Bowl (last year) that I was gonna help them go win these games and go finish out the season the right way. So I wanted to stick to my word.”
While Ohio State’s players will get another five-day window to enter the portal should they wish to do so after the Buckeyes’ season ends, Michalski felt like he had to enter the portal when he did so that he would be able to fully evaluate his options for next season. With only one year of eligibility remaining after this year, he didn’t want to get left without a good opportunity.
But Michalski, who returned to action in backup duty in Ohio State’s first-round CFP win over Tennessee after missing the Buckeyes’ final five games of the regular season with an injury he suffered in his lone start of the year against Nebraska, said he never thought about leaving the team before fulfilling his commitment for this season.
“I told Coach Day in our conversation that I love this team, I love my teammates. I would never just leave. I want to play, I want to contribute however I can. Obviously I'm back, I’m healthy, I'm ready to go, so I'm excited about it. I didn't want to leave this behind. I didn’t want to leave an opportunity like this just out there,” Michalski told Eleven Warriors. “But I did want to explore my options just so that I know I have a plan … I feel like in terms of the transfer portal today, I feel like I did it the right way. I stayed for four years, graduated. I'm not the type of guy that just bounces around like that, so it was a lot of thought for me to just make that decision, a lot went into it and I'm happy with it.”
Antwi, who has not played an offensive snap since Ohio State’s three non-conference games to begin the season, also felt like he had to enter the portal after playing only sparingly in three seasons with the Buckeyes. But even if he doesn’t get the chance to play at all in the CFP, Antwi wanted to remain with the Buckeyes and continue to support his teammates until the season ends.
“I love this team ultimately, and I just want to support my guys to the end. And whatever happens, happens. These are my guys, so I just wanted to stay here until the end and see what happens, hopefully win a national championship,” Antwi told Eleven Warriors. “I just wanted a bigger opportunity, an opportunity to go start somewhere and make a name for myself, and the coaches understood. They supported me 100%, and I just respect them for letting me stay with the team.”
Although their Ohio State careers haven’t gone the way they had hoped for when they arrived at Ohio State – Michalski in 2021, Brown and Antwi in 2022 – all of them are grateful they’ve had the opportunity to be a part of the program. Each of them expects to take what they learned from their time at Ohio State with them to their next stops.
“I've definitely learned a lot from Coach Hartline,” Antwi said. “He’s given me a lot of nuggets to take my game to the next level, and hopefully at my next destination I'll be able to reciprocate that.”
Brown said he’s grown from the adversity he’s faced at Ohio State, both in terms of injuries and lost quarterback competitions, and he feels his opportunity to learn behind the likes of Howard, McCord and C.J. Stroud for the last three years was invaluable.
“There's been a lot I've learned,” Brown said. “I've been fortunate to have great coaches and great players that have played in front of me. So to be able to learn from them and take things from their game, it's always gonna make me a better player.”
Because they’ve been focused on practicing with the Buckeyes and preparing for Wednesday’s playoff quarterfinal vs. Oregon, none of Brown, Antwi or Michalski have chosen new transfer destinations yet. Each of them has agents who have helped them navigate the portal while they finish out the season with the Buckeyes, and all of them said they’ve been able to smoothly balance getting ready for the Rose Bowl with the search for where they’ll play in 2025.
“It really hasn't been too hard,” Brown said. “Luckily, I’ve got my family to help me with that and you have agents and stuff like that can take a lot of that off the plate for you. So I really haven't had to worry about it much. My focus has been on helping this team win.”
All three of their Ohio State careers could end this week if Ohio State loses to Oregon on Wednesday. But all of them hope they will still be Buckeyes for three more weeks, culminating with a victory in the national championship game on Jan. 20.
“You see what your preparation is like in the results, so I'm excited to see what the result is,” Michalski said. “I feel like our preparation has been great and just how the guys have been playing and practicing, it’s been looking good.”
