The Ohio State Buckeyes could very soon be losing 2027 4-star Huntington Beach (CA) quarterback recruit Brady Edmunds, with the UCLA Bruins and Northwestern Wildcats making big pushes for the six-foot-five, 250-pound gunslinger. UCLA even scheduled a visit with him. It may not be the worst thing, though.
Bucknuts' Steve Helwagen doesn't seem to think that it'd be much of a loss for the offense, since Edmunds may not be the best fit for the modern game. Edmunds is not a dual-threat and could have issues with freakishly athletic opposing edge-rushers.
"First of all, I like Brady Edmunds, and we had a Boarding House note Monday that I think encapsulated it. Twenty years ago, you'd say you want that Ben Roethlisberger 6-5, 230-pound dude who can stand in the pocket and deliver frozen ropes all over the field. But as the game has evolved, pass rushers have gotten bigger, stronger, and, most importantly, faster in small spaces. They shoot off the line of scrimmage and wreak havoc," Helwagen wrote.
"The Indiana and Miami games showed you need to have somebody who can feel the heat, elude the heat, and still make a play. There is still a place for Edmunds ... but your offensive line better be real damn good to keep those speed rushers at bay."
It'd be a tremendous failure if Ryan Day and Tyler Bowen didn't have an up-to-snuff offensive line that'd allow a gunslinger to sit back and fire by the time Edmunds was ready to take over. Edmunds' game probably won't morph much until absolutely necessary, and the Buckeyes shouldn't have to force him to be mobile. There may not be a dominant blindside right now, but the program had a stretch of starting studs at the position. Josh Simmons, Paris Johnson Jr., Nicholas Petit-Frere, and Thayer Munford were all great options in the Day era.
Regardless, the writing may be on the wall for Edmunds. Arthur Smith's system is the best fit for a mobile QB. Truthfully, so is Chip Kelly's at Northwestern and Dean Kelly's at UCLA. But the Buckeyes have the fewest opportunities available for a player who needs the play-calling to account for his limited legs. The win-now expectations and the presence of Tavien St. Clair make Central Ohio a rough fit for Edmunds, all things considered.
Brady Edmunds' Elite 11 performance probably sealed his fate
It's one thing for Edmunds to have shared clear signals that he isn't sold on OSU. It's another thing when he didn't even perform well enough at the Elite 11 for it to be much of a bother to Buckeye Nation.
Edmunds wasn't in the top five performers during the Elite 11. He was still quite good, but quite good isn't the standard in Cbus. While being a backup would probably be in Edmunds' cards at a massive blue-blood like OSU, perhaps there's a less pressure-filled situation that best fits his profile.
It may not be the Wildcats or Bruins, but they might not care. Why not take a chance on Edmunds if you're either of those two schools? Never expect that last sentence to ever apply to the Buckeyes, by the way.
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