After just one season as the Ohio State quarterback, Kyle McCord is looking for greener pastures.
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The embattled Buckeyes passer has entered the transfer portal after a tough loss to Michigan. Perhaps he is getting ahead of a major talent exodus from Columbus, as his top targets — wideouts Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka as well as tight end Cade Stover — could all be NFL-bound this year.
Breaking: Ohio State QB Kyle McCord has entered his name into the transfer portal. pic.twitter.com/vFUg3566cy
— ESPN (@espn) December 4, 2023
McCord was fine statistically this season. He tossed for 3,170 yards and completed 65.8 percent of his passes, with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions. Yet he certainly did not light up the stat sheet like his predecessors, C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields, or even Dwayne Haskins and J.T. Barrett before them. He had the typically stacked OSU arsenal of weapons at his disposal but was still consistently shaky in big games and road environments. It seems that the loss at Michigan, in which he threw a pair of picks including one to end the game, was the breaking point.
Devin Brown, who served as McCord's backup this season, will be an option for coach Ryan Day next season, and five-star freshman Air Noland is on the way as well. That being said, Day clearly thought little enough of Brown that he never got a chance amid all of McCord's struggles; and it would not be unreasonable to let Noland sit for a while as a true freshman so the Buckeyes could turn to the portal themselves to find a replacement for McCord.
Also, Oklahoma star Dillon Gabriel has entered the portal for the second time after starting his career at the University of Central Florida and could be a good option if the Buckeyes are willing to rework their offense around a lefty passer. Washington State's Cam Ward also looks as if he's going to be on the move as he seeks to escape the Pac-12 realignment madness; he had an up-and-down season but could definitely benefit from the stability of a massive program like Ohio State's. Lastly, record-setting Coastal Carolina passer Grayson McCall is also transferring; he had a bit of a down year but did not have a phenomenal team, and the ceiling could be extremely high if he was paired with a Power Five school like Ohio State.
