Ohio State football: Ryan Day names starting QB vs. Minnesota

Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day has picked his starting quarterback for Week 1.

After an entire offseason, Ryan Day has selected redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud to be the starting quarterback for the Ohio State football team ahead of their season opener vs. Minnesota.

Stroud beat out Jack Miller III, Kyle McCord and Quinn Ewers for the right to replace Justin Fields in 2021. While all four quarterbacks were highly-touted coming out of high school, none of them have thrown a collegiate pass before. This was Day’s first truly tough decision as the Ohio State head coach. Replacing Fields will inevitably define how good this year’s Buckeyes team can be.

Ohio State enters the 2021 college football season as the No. 4 team in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Ohio State football: Ryan Day picks his starting quarterback for Minnesota game

While it was not a guarantee that Stroud would end up being the guy, this was the most likely outcome in Columbus. He was a more consistent passer during spring practice than Miller. Though McCord offers a ton of progress, he only got on to campus back in the spring. As for Ewers, he may be the most talented of the quartet, but keep in mind he reclassified and only enrolled in August.

Day was smart to hold this close to the vest to hopefully prevent two of these quarterbacks from transferring. Frankly, that is going to happen at the end of the year anyway. The only way that does not happen is if Stroud does not run away with the job. If he struggles vs. a middle-of-the-pack Minnesota team to begin Big Ten play, Day may look to start one of the three other guys.

Stroud carries immense pressure, as he is the first Buckeyes quarterback to start post-Fields.

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