Kyle McCord says there’s no animosity between him and Ohio State one year after he transferred from Ohio State to Syracuse for his final year of college football.
In the end, McCord’s departure from Ohio State worked out well for everyone. McCord had a highly successful season at Syracuse, elevating his NFL draft stock by throwing for an ACC-record 4,779 yards. Ohio State replaced McCord with Will Howard and won the national championship – a national championship McCord was happy to see the Buckeyes win even though he chose to go elsewhere.
“It was awesome,” McCord said Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I mean, obviously, those are my guys, so seeing them accomplish that goal was sweet, knowing how bad they worked for it. I had a great year and they had a great year and so it was just cool to see everybody win, to be honest.”
McCord, who entered the transfer portal just nine days after Ohio State’s loss to Michigan in 2023, said he didn’t want to get into details about his decision to leave Ohio State on Friday, citing the respect he still has for Ryan Day.
“Obviously, it wasn't an easy conversation. And he's someone that I respect a ton. So I'm going to keep the details of all that kind of private,” McCord said. “But like I said, it was cool seeing him win. And then RJ Day, his son, reached out to me and congratulated me on a great season as well. So I know people try to make it seem like we hate each other or whatever, but that's not the case at all. I know I was rooting for him all season long and I know he was rooting for me as well.”
While McCord put up solid numbers in his lone season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, completing 65.8% of his passing attempts for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns with only six interceptions in 2023, his performance didn’t meet the same standard as the three quarterbacks who preceded him at Ohio State – C.J. Stroud, Justin Fields and Dwayne Haskins, who all went on to be first-round NFL draft picks. Looking back on that season, McCord said he’ll be “the first person to admit I didn’t play my best football at Ohio State,” but he was always confident he’d improve in his second year as a starter.
“I knew regardless if I was at Ohio State or Syracuse, I was going to make a big jump from year one to year two. I was very confident in that,” McCord said. “I think having a year of experience starting at Ohio State under my belt, I don't think you can get much more prepared than that. That's great experience. And so just using that and learning from it, I was super critical watching myself from Ohio State and attacking the areas that I needed to improve upon, and the success that I had last year really wasn't a surprise to me.”
“I had a great year and they had a great year and so it was just cool to see everybody win.”– Kyle McCord on Ohio State winning the national championship
Although he didn’t have the success he hoped to at Ohio State, McCord believes his three years as a Buckeye prepared him well to not only succeed at Syracuse but in the NFL.
“Once you play quarterback at Ohio State, you're sort of always under the microscope regardless of where you go. And so going through and playing three years and starting for one at Ohio State, you just kind of carry that same mentality around,” McCord said. “You kind of just assume that you're under the microscope everywhere you go, and so that definitely helps you for the NFL because just like that, I mean, it's damn near a NFL program. So yeah, just carrying that experience wherever I go.”
McCord said “it wasn’t easy” to leave Ohio State after three years as a Buckeye. But it’s a decision he’s still glad he made, even after watching Ohio State win a national title without him, because of the success he had at Syracuse.
“When you pour three years of blood, sweat and tears into a program and you create a lot of great relationships there with the players and the coaching staff and the support staff, it wasn't an easy decision to leave,” McCord said. “But I think it worked out for me, it worked out for them, so I think all-around it was the right thing to do.”
