Ohio State football: Kyle McCord explains why he stayed with Buckeyes, didn't transfer

The 5-star quarterback stayed with Ohio State despite the Buckeyes losing two other quarterbacks to transfer.

Ohio State began the 2021 football season with four elite quarterbacks, but come into 2022 with just two after Quinn Ewers and Jack Miller both transferred away.

One quarterback who decided to stay with the Buckeyes is Kyle McCord, who is expected to back up C.J. Stroud this fall before ideally getting his chance in 2023.

"I think it's definitely a marathon, not a sprint," McCord said, via 247Sports. 

"Looking at it in the bigger picture, coming here, you realize how well you're coached by coach [Ryan] Day. So that was really important to me. On top of that, I feel like just being here, I learned a lot. 

"So I know that a lot of people thought I should have left and went somewhere else and tried to start this year, but in the long term I thought it was best for me to stay here and continue to develop."

McCord played in five games last season for Ohio State, going 25 of 38 passing (65.8 percent) with 416 yards passing, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

McCord said he never entertained the idea of leaving the Buckeyes.

"During the season, I was focused on the season and then I just let everything work itself out, so I was never really thinking about it. But I know a lot of people were trying to put words in my mouth."

McCord signed with Ohio State as a 5-star prospect from Philadelphia in the 2021 football recruiting cycle. Services ranked the quarterback as a consensus top 30 overall player, a top 6 quarterback, and the No. 2 player from Pennsylvania.

Now, he projects as the solid No. 2 behind C.J. Stroud, who took hold of the starting position last season and never let go, completing almost 72 percent of his passes for 4,435 yards with 44 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Stroud finished as one of the four finalists to win the Heisman Trophy after breaking the Rose Bowl record for passing yards (573) and TD passes (6) in a win over Utah.

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