Oller: In the end, Day signing quarterback Kyle McCord was a swing and a miss
Forget it taking nine months to determine if Kyle McCord is the answer at quarterback for Ohio State. It took only nine days.
McCord threw a surprise party Monday morning by entering the transfer portal with the Michigan loss still stinging, though upon further reflection the stunner is not so shocking. Ryan Day’s lack of enthusiastic support for McCord during Sunday’s press conference was a tip-off for what was coming down.
Day not only failed to guarantee the 2024 starting QB job to McCord, but the Ohio State coach did not even confirm that McCord would start the Cotton Bowl. That either is putting the writing on the wall in foot-high, blinking neon lettering – a way of convincing a player to depart the program without forcing him out -- or Day knew McCord was leaving and wanted to keep a lid on the news.
McCord already may have decided to transfer to a school in need of a B+ quarterback – Maryland is relatively near his home near Philadelphia, hmm – and it is juicy conjecture to wonder if his mind was made up before the Michigan game, but Day issuing a lukewarm approval rating may have sealed the deal.
It also is possible McCord took in the over-the-top criticism aimed at him following the 30-24 loss to Michigan and decided such abuse was not in the best interest of his mental health. Playing QB at Ohio State is pressure of another kind.
Either way, the 21-year-old gets a fresh start. Wish him well. With only one year of eligibility remaining and no promise of returning atop the depth chart next season, the junior faced an uncertain future in Columbus. The transfer portal was created to benefit athletes, and even if a negative side effect is the further NFL’ing of college football free agency, the portal mostly is working as designed, Pandora’s box be hanged.
As for Day, the quarterback whisperer – whose whisper grows fainter with the McCord experiment falling short – cannot be blamed for wanting to move in a different direction, if indeed such is the case. Watching how he interacted with McCord during games, one gets the feeling Day was never satisfied with his QB’s decision-making. It did not require being a lip reader to decipher Day’s frustration with what McCord was seeing, or not seeing, on the field. It was rare to see Day scream at C.J. Stroud or Justin Fields the way he harangued McCord.
Not that the criticism was unjustified. It’s just that there were too many times when coach and quarterback were not on the same page. It could be that Day’s method of development fell on somewhat deaf ears, or that Day has become so accustomed to working with NFL-caliber talent that McCord presented too much of a drop-off. It also could be that Day signed the wrong quarterback. If so, that swing and miss is on him, not the player.
Was McCord terrible? Not at all. Compare his passing numbers as a first-year starter to those of Stroud.
McCord: 229 of 348 (65.8%) for 3,170 yards, an average of 264.2 yards a game, with 24 touchdowns, six interceptions and a quarterback efficiency rating of 161.6.
Stroud: 317 of 441 (71.9%) for 4,435 yards, an average of 369.6 yards per game, with 44 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 186.6 rating.
McCord’s stats are impressive, maybe not as eye-popping as Stroud’s, but he also is not in the same class as C.J. How many are? Plus, McCord was bothered by an injured ankle, to what extent we may never know. But it also is a stretch to conclude that his lack of consistency, both in accuracy and early-game execution, was due to the ankle. He struggled in both those areas all season, before the injury occurred.
A couple more observations and I’ll get out of the way. It is impossible to know for sure if McCord was the caliber of leader needed to galvanize an offense. He comes off reserved, but for the most part so did Fields. Leadership is not defined by who yells the loudest, but a certain inner toughness is required. McCord was “safe,” always saying the right things during interviews, never embarrassing the program, but some fans found his demeanor too “soft” and took his comment about Michigan being just another game as blasphemy.
My big question with McCord always was whether he could show the type of consistent top-shelf ability needed to lead OSU to a Big Ten title and beyond. I had my doubts. It is fair to assume he would have improved during the offseason, but with a ceiling lower than what Day is accustomed to, it also is fair to be suspicious of whether the improvement would have been enough to offset the looming losses of talent that includes Marvin Harrison, Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming, Cade Stover and TreVeyon Henderson.
There also was the issue of McCord’s legs. Look around college football (and, increasingly, the NFL); a quarterback must be able to run, if not to daylight at least from trouble. Mobility is not just an asset but a requirement. McCord displayed decent poise in the pocket, and showed some signs of evading the rush, but not enough to bail out the offense against playoff-caliber defenses. Not being an elite thrower, McCord’s legs needed to be an X factor instead of an X-out factor.
McCord’s backup, Devin Brown, is a better runner, but can he consistently complete passes into tight windows? McCord had some of that, but also too often threw behind receivers. Best guess? Day goes hard into the transfer portal to find a mobile QB who enters the spring competing against Brown, Lincoln Kienholz and incoming freshman Air Noland for the starting job.
In the end, we are left to wonder if Day might say of McCord’s inconsistency what he thought of Lou Holtz’s comments: “I’d like to know where Kyle is right now.”
The only certain answer? He’s out of here.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football quarterback Kyle McCord enters transfer portal
