The fifth-year Ohio State coach plans to get Brown, a redshirt freshman from Arizona, into the game enough to give him a legitimate shot to unseat McCord, a junior who prepped in Philadelphia.
“We certainly have seen enough in practice to believe that both guys can perform in a game,” Day said. “And now it’s time to go put it on the field.”
McCord has played in 12 games at Ohio State, including one start against Akron when he was a true freshman in 2021.
He is 41 for 58 passing for 606 yards and three touchdowns, including 16 for 20 last season for 190 yards in seven mop-up appearances for two-time Big Ten Quarterback of the Year C.J. Stroud.
Brown got into a pair of games last season but did not throw a pass in his 15 plays.
Both have recruiting pedigree — McCord was the No. 8-ranked quarterback prospect in the nation in 2021 while Brown was No. 5 in 2022 — but neither has been in a pressure situation yet.
Day initially said he would like to see a starter separate himself midway through the preseason, if not sooner, but he delayed the decision as August wore on.
He conceded last week he would like to see McCord rewarded for his loyalty after choosing to remain with the program last season as Stroud’s backup, but he also displayed a willingness to let the best man win.
McCord responded to Brown’s strong camp by upping his consistency over the last 10 days or so, according to Day.
“I’m pleased with that,” Day said. “I think that that’s exactly how things shook out a little bit this preseason. I think that Devin made a real strong push about 10 days ago, two weeks ago, and I think Kyle responded with some really consistent play, and that was a good response. And that was very encouraging. Now it’s time to go play the games, though.”
In the games, he will be looking for the same things he was in practice — with a significant variable, of course.
“In practice you see certain things, but to get tackled and to move the team down the field and finish off drives, do well on third down, do well in the red zone, that’s going to continue to play itself out during during the season,” Day said.
Of course, pressing could become an issue if the competition continues, but Day hopes it will not be.
With receiver and running backs rooms loaded with experienced talent, he is happy to have a game manager at quarterback, at least to start the season.
“Well, I told both of those guys this isn’t going to be a situation where they need to be worried about getting quote unquote benched being in the game,” Day said. “That’s not the case. They have to go play through some of that stuff. C.J. kind of went through it his first couple games when he was here as a sophomore, and you just don’t know how it is gonna play out.
“But all we can do is just do the best we can right now. Go win the first game is the goal. I don’t know exactly how it’s gonna be. A week from now, we’re at a different place. We have more to go on, a bigger sample size in a game, and we go from there. I just don’t have a crystal ball on this, and I’m not sure how it is going to shake out, but I think what we’re doing is fair based on what we’ve seen this preseason.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Ohio State at Indiana, 3:30 p.m., CBS, 1410
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