Ohio State transfer portal wish list: Top Kyle McCord replacements available
By John Buhler
Football is a team sport, but it was easy to point the blame at two people in Ohio State's third straight loss to Michigan: Head coach Ryan Day and starting quarterback Kyle McCord. Day is looking more and more like 21st century John Cooper by the day, ruining yet another Thanksgiving Weekend for the fine folks from the state of Ohio. As for McCord, he was misevaluated coming out of high school.
McCord is a fine quarterback, but level of competition and being in the 2021 recruiting class during the height of COVID certainly masked some things. I will give Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline a ton of credit in trying to cover up some of McCord's inefficiencies at quarterback, but they were unfortunately exposed in the one game Ohio State can never afford to lose. That was The Game.
Although I would contest that McCord should be exponentially better entering his second season running the Ohio State offense, he has been on campus for three years already. Simply put, Ohio State is too talented and there is too much pressure on Day to let another year go to waste because of insufficient quarterback play. It is why they have to at least see what the transfer portal could offer.
If Ohio State were to take a gander into the ole transfer portal, here is replacements they could land.
Ohio State football: 3 transfer portal QB replacements for Kyle McCord
3. Will Howard helped Kansas State win a Big 12 Championship a year ago
Will Howard putting his name into the transfer portal out of Kansas State was interesting. He was part of the 2020 recruiting class out of Downingtown, Pennsylvania for K-State. While he did not have the longest runway leading the Wildcats under center, he played an important role in helping K-State beat the then-undefeated TCU Horned Frogs to win the Big 12 title bout to go to the Sugar Bowl last year.
Truth be told, Kansas State was going to the Sugar Bowl no matter what happened vs. the Hypnotoads in Arlington around this time last year. However, there were certainly moments over the last few seasons where Howard showed some of that necessary dynamism to extend plays for the K-State offense that McCord struggles to at Ohio State. Howard transferring is all about Avery Johnson.
Johnson is the quarterback prospect EMAW Nation has dreamed of since the peak Collin Klein years. He is a homegrown talent from Wichita, and a dual-threat playmaker to boot. Frankly, it was only a matter of time before his talent outshined Howard's in Manhattan. Simply put, if Ohio State wants a better veteran college quarterback with a tad more explosiveness, they should give Howard a call.
Howard being a proven commodity at K-State could help Ohio State have a mental edge vs. Michigan.