'We Have Two Guys': Ryan Day Expands on Ohio State QB Plan
Plenty of things are considered normal: and saying "thank you" in response to a favor.
Something that is not normal however, is finding out which quarterbacks will start in a football game only a handful of days before the scheduled kick-off time.
Both the Ohio State Buckeyes and Indiana Hoosiers have kept fans and media in the dark about their respective starting quarterbacks all offseason. Only recently have coaches Ryan Day and Tom Allen begun to let others in on their signal-caller decisions.
Ohio State's Day was first, announcing on Monday that junior Kyle McCord would take the first snaps of the season for the Buckeyes.
Day added in almost that same breath that some "meaningful snaps" would be allocated to sophomore Devin Brown, whom has been McCord's main competition for the starting job over summer and fall camp practices.
"I think that Kyle has done a great job over the last two weeks of showing consistency, he's played very well in practice, but Devin (Brown) also throughout the body of the preseason has shown that he deserves to play," Day said.
Day acknowledged the hesitancy that would surround the announcement of a two-qyarterback system, even if it did still fit the typical, 'starter-and-reserve' relationship.
"I think that's significant that we have two guys that we feel confident playing in a game," Day said. "This is something that's a little uncharted territory for me, but you just go on what you see every day in practice."
Almost three-and-a-half hours west in Bloomington, Indiana, Allen has revealed nothing as to which of the five quarterbacks on his roster could start against the Buckeyes.
Redshirt-freshmen Tayven Jackson and Brendan Sorsby are the favorites to win the starting job with senior Connor Bazelak (last year's primary option behind center) having transferred to Bowling Green.
Allen has said that he and his staff know which of the two young signal-callers was victorious in the offseason battle, but won't make a public announcement prior to kick off with Ohio State on Saturday.
What Allen did reveal was what he has been looking for in a starting quarterback, and it wasn't too different from Day's search for "consistency" between McCord and Brown.
"You're looking for a guy to command that side of the ball, lead that side of the ball, and that's with leadership and production," Allen said. "So, you've got to make plays and run the offense."
As mentioned earlier, both Jackson and Sorsby are redshirt-freshmen, and have yet to take a snap at the FBS level. This means that rather than seeing which quarterback has more of those quoted qualities, Allen has been developing them within his green signal-callers.
The difference-maker: which quarterback caught on to Allen's teachings better and quicker than the other.
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