Ryan Day previews upcoming QB battle, 2021 roster outlook for Ohio State

Ryan Day will have a QB battle on his hands in 2021, something that really has not happened extensively since he joined Ohio State in 2017.

In his first season in Columbus, serving as the co-OC and QB coach, Day worked with long-time starter JT Barrett. Behind Barrett, Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow served as backups with Haskins taking the full-time reins in 2018 as Burrow transferred.

After Haskins came star transfer Justin Fields out of Georgia. Though Tate Martell might have initially envisioned a quarterback battle with Fields, he soon transferred to Miami. Fields finished top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting two seasons in a row before declaring for the NFL Draft.

Now, Day and the Buckeyes head into 2021 with two players that saw garbage time action in 2020 – Jack Miller and C.J. Stroud – and a 5-star signee in Kyle McCord that will battle it out to be the next starter for the Buckeyes.

During his Friday morning press conference recapping 2020, Day also previewed the 2021 roster and upcoming QB battle. Dan Hope with 11 Warriors shared Day’s comments:

Ryan Day on C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller not getting to throw any passes this past season: “I wish we were further along. I wish we had more reps.” Said the Buckeyes have to try to simulate games the best way they can in practice to get them up to speed for the fall.

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021

Ryan Day on C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller: “I don't think that either of them are further along than the other.” Says the Buckeyes will evaluate them more against each other this spring.

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021

Ryan Day on Justin Fields being projected as a high first-round NFL draft pick: “Happy for him and his family that he's going to have the opportunity to make that kind of money.”

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021

Miller saw action against Nebraska and carried the ball two times for 23 yards and a touchdown. Stroud saw action against Michigan State and scored a touchdown on a 48-yard run.

McCord is a five-star prospect and No. 3 pro-style QB for 2021 on the 247 Sports Composite Rankings. He is also rated the No. 25 prospect nationally for the cycle.

Needless to say, the QB battle under Day should be an intriguing one to watch this offseason.

Here are the rest of Day’s comments from Friday:

Ryan Day said Haskell Garrett had COVID-19 in the summer before he was shot, so he really had no lead-up to the season, yet he still had a career year. Day expects Garrett to be one of the best defensive tackles in college football next season.

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021

Ryan Day said Ohio State is “definitely going to look at a different spring model in terms of how we go about it” this year. Said the Buckeyes want to simulate more game reps in spring practices this year after getting less game reps this past season.

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021

Ryan Day on 15 of Ohio State's 21 freshman signees enrolling early: “The good news is we're going to have a good portion of our team here now on Feb. 1.”

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021

Ryan Day said Ohio State is going to give all three quarterbacks as many reps as possible early on, and then if one quarterback separates himself from the others, he'll start to take the majority of first-team reps.

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 22, 2021