Ohio State Football: QB competition is far from over

The Ohio State football team held its annual Spring game yesterday afternoon on a picture-perfect day in Columbus. In front of 80,000 Buckeyes fans, the quarterbacks played average at best, as the open competition will head into the summer.

Incoming transfer Will Howard got the start and played pretty average. Throwing 9-13 for 77 yards, Howard looked poised in the pocket, but his deep ball accuracy was not there yesterday afternoon. Granted it's only Spring ball and he's still getting used to a new system and receivers. But nonetheless, Howard will need to be more accurate to earn the starting role for 2024.

Howard's top competitor, Devin Brown, played much of the same. Throwing 5-7 for 66 yards and a touchdown, Brown showed what he could do with his legs adding 24 yards on the ground as well. In all honesty, they looked to be much of the same type of player as Brown's deep ball accuracy was not great either.

Ryan Day wanted a better option than Kyle McCord, that much was clear. The ball placement was not what Day expected from a starting Buckeye quarterback last season. Both Howard and Brown will need to improve with that if they want to step up the overall QB play for next season.

The one quarterback who has been earning praise this Spring for his ball placement was true freshman Julian Sayin. While he might possess that critical trait, his overall pocket presence and awareness clearly lacked on Saturday, taking a total of three sacks and throwing an interception. He also needs to add size to his frame to be ready for the wear and tear of a full Big Ten slate.

While there was a lot of good from the quarterbacks on Saturday, clearly there is room for a ton of improvement as this competition looks like it will be heading into fall camp.