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Former Ohio State QB Joe Burrow Announces Transfer to LSU

The former Ohio State quarterback tweeted his transfer decision late Friday night, choosing LSU over Cincinnati as his destination.

Former Ohio State quarterback Joe Burrow has decided to transfer to LSU. Burrow, who is eligible immediately and has two years of eligibility remaining, tweeted the news Friday night.

Burrow, a 6' 3'', 215-pounder from The Plains, Ohio, will enter a quarterback competition that includes sophomore Myles Brennan, redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse and fourth-year junior Justin McMillan. Tigers coach Ed Orgeron said after the spring game that no member of that trio had distanced himself from the other two.

Should Burrow win the job, he would be the second consecutive Big Ten transfer to start at LSU. Purdue transfer Danny Etling started for the Tigers in 2016 and 2017. LSU has struggled to develop a quarterback recruited out of high school in recent years. The best two quarterbacks the Tigers have had this decade are Zach Mettenberger (originally signed with Georgia, came to LSU from junior college) and Etling. It’s also possible that the addition of Burrow could inspire one or more current LSU quarterbacks to transfer. Brennan and Narcisse are undergraduates, but McMillian is on pace to graduate and could play elsewhere immediately with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Burrow also considered Cincinnati. The Bearcats are coached by former Ohio State assistant Luke Fickell. In Columbus, Burrow played in 10 games. He completed 29 of 39 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns. Burrow served as the primary backup to J.T. Barrett in 2016, but a preseason injury caused him to lose the backup job to Dwayne Haskins in 2017. Burrow and Haskins competed for the starting job during spring practice. Though Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer didn’t publicly announce a starter, Burrow announced his intention to transfer on May 8.