Coming in as a highly-touted player to a big school, you could expect to see the field a bit more.
Ohio State Buckeyes sophomore quarterback Devin Brown is in a sticky situation. Last season, he sat behind C.J. Stroud. Now, he’s sitting behind junior Kyle McCord after a long quarterback battle during the offseason.
Brown went down with a right ankle injury in the 20-12 win over Penn State on Oct. 21. The team has used him as a goal-line quarterback to punch in a quick score, similar to the Chris Leak-Tim Tebow situation with the 2007 Florida Gators.
Head coach Ryan Day said Brown could miss a couple weeks, but with a developing young set of quarterbacks on the roster, the backup may not have his spot left when he returns.
Regardless, if Brown is picking up a measly 10.3 snaps per game now, does he have a notable future at Ohio State? There are a few different scenarios which will determine this:
First, the Buckeyes could continue substituting a quarterback for goal-to-go situations, even if Brown is not present. Freshman Lincoln Kienholz is slated to back up McCord the next couple weeks and his high school resume is off the charts — he rushed for 777 yards and six touchdowns and threw for another 2,132 yards and 30 touchdowns his senior season alone, impressively doing so in just seven games. There's an argument that Kienholz could replace Brown’s position the rest of the season.
Second, McCord can stay an extra year. If the Buckeyes don’t win the national title this year, he could look to compete for a championship in 2025 and increase his draft stock. Brown would then be backup again, unless quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis switches things up. And who knows, the team didn’t decide on a quarterback until days before the first game of the season against Indiana and further didn’t decide on a full-time starter until Sept. 12.
Third — and perhaps most important for Brown to consider — one of the top prospects looms on the horizon in 2024 top-10 quarterback Air Noland from Georgia. Noland threw for 4,095 yards and 55 touchdowns and added another five on the ground in his junior year. The high school senior could earn playing time at Ohio State next season, though he'll have a lot of competition with Kienholz and potentially McCord.
If Brown is looking at being a backup option once again next season, he may want to look elsewhere if he wants a surefire future on the field. After all, there are plenty of programs who could use a dual-threat quarterback.
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