If only Ryan Day could get one more year with some of these quarterbacks.
He's a QB whisperer, right? That's the position he played and it's definitely what got and kept him in coaching. The Days moved to Columbus 10 years ago and Ohio State's quarterback development has been among the nation's best ever since.
And that's despite the Buckeyes mostly being one-and-done at that position during his tenure. This fall will only be the fourth time Ohio State returns its starting quarterback from the previous season, and just the third who will have come up under Day's coaching.
As the personnel acquisition swiftly shifts from Developing High School Recruits to Lower Risk Free Agency, this dynamic may slide from infrequent to rare. Let's start with the rarest of returning quarterbacks: Joseph Thomas Barrett IV, the historically prolific and yet maligned leader Day inherited when he took over for Tim Beck in 2017.
| CMP | ATT | % | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | SCK | RTG | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 233 | 379 | 61.5 | 2,555 | 6.7 | 24 | 7 | 27 | 135.3 | 205 | 845 | 4.1 | 9 |
| 2017 | 240 | 371 | 64.7 | 3,053 | 8.2 | 35 | 9 | 19 | 160.1 | 165 | 798 | 4.8 | 12 |
It's been nearly a decade since the JTB discourse was reaching a fever pitch. Day showed up in time to manage and develop a seasoned veteran for one season. Barrett's progression is muddled for a variety of reasons (meteoric redshirt freshman 2014 season which ended abruptly vs. Michigan, shared time with Cardale Jones during coaching malpractice season of 2015, numerous nagging injuries, offensive brain trust abruptly terminated following 2016) but Day's impact was obvious.
He measurably improved in his only season under Day's tutelage, which is to say the reigning B1G QB of the Year, Silver Football winner and unanimous 1st Team All-Conference quarterback played significantly better as a redshirt senior.
Good stats went up. Bad stats went down. He ran the ball fewer times, but did so more effectively. Hindsight here is that Day had no choice but to trust the most seasoned quarterback in program history who coincidentally still owns a trunk full of program and conference records.
Perhaps that's why JTB was allowed to have more carries than CJ Stroud and Julian Sayin, combined (yes, those carries include sacks too - doesn't change a thing). Under Day, Barrett repeated was the winner in all of those award categories except for the Silver Football, which no one was going to take from Saquon Barkley in 2017.
Barrett added Davey O'Brien finalist, Cotton Bowl MVP and a fifth pair of Gold Pants to his collection in his final season. It's a single data point: Day unleashed the quarterbacks he trusts.
The following season, Dwayne Haskins won the starting position over Joe Burrow, who had broken his hand during offseason practice. He went on to set program records in one season as a starter, while rushing for 108 yards on 79 "carries" as a he was coached to prioritize protecting and distributing the ball.
And then Day recruited what was then the highest-rated player ever to play at Ohio State.
Justin Fields celebrates a rushing touchdown from fellow quarterback C.J. Stroud during the 4th quarter between Michigan State and the Buckeyes on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. © Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
| CMP | ATT | % | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | SCK | RTG | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 238 | 354 | 67.2 | 3,273 | 9.2 | 41 | 3 | 31 | 181.4 | 137 | 484 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 2020 | 158 | 225 | 70.2 | 2,100 | 9.3 | 22 | 6 | 21 | 175.6 | 81 | 383 | 4.7 | 5 |
We highlighted the superior statistics for Barrett between his year pre-Day and his one season with him, but that doesn't make sense for Fields since his final season in Columbus was the pandemic-shortened one played largely in front of cavernous stadiums.
If you haven't grasped how quickly this sport has changed, Fields needed a waiver to be able to play for the Buckeyes in 2019 after transferring from Georgia - back then, transfers were required to sit for a year before seeing the field. He lawyered up and became the B1G's offensive player of the year while finishing third in the Heisman.
Fields was the favorite to win that award entering the season that got derailed along with the rest of the world. As with Barrett, he repeated in all of the other award categories - and similarly, Day trusted him even more with the ball. His completions and carries (!) went for more yards in his second season.
He took a vicious hit in the Sugar Bowl which may have changed the course for how Day manages his quarterbacks. Fields had more carries during the pandemic-shortened season than his successor would have in two full years as a starter.
| CMP | ATT | % | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | SCK | RTG | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 317 | 441 | 71.9 | 4,435 | 10.1 | 44 | 6 | 13 | 186.6 | 32 | (20) | (0.6) | 0 |
| 2022 | 258 | 389 | 66.3 | 3,688 | 9.5 | 41 | 6 | 12 | 177.7 | 47 | 108 | 2.3 | 0 |
Another title for Stroud's comparative statistics might be Here's What Happens When Jaxon Smith-Njigba is Healthy. Once he settled into the role in his first year starting, the passing attack with Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson on the outside with the best slot receiver in program history in the middle was close to unstoppable.
Year 2 looks like a step back, until you realize he was operating with brand-new receivers and Cade Stover operating at no better than 60% healthy all season was a legitimate passing target. Stroud's production in 2022 - even with Marvin Harrison Jr's emergence - was nothing short of spectacular.
That 2021 Michigan game, the first where ever play call was captured by Connor Stalions prior to the meeting was lost on account of the Buckeyes' porous defense, which couldn't stop telegraphed plays - a repeat of the Oregon loss.
Stroud threw for 394 yards on 34/49 passing in a snowstorm behind an offensive line suffering from the flu Sparty had given it the previous week, against a defense that knew what Ohio State was running before ever snap. The growth from Week 1 to Week 12 was nothing short of astronomical.
His video game statistics in what was a consolation Rose Bowl without Olave or Wilson playing was testimony to the growth he achieved in one season under Day's coaching.
The 2022 team's fortunes were designed and predicated upon JSN's availability with everything the offense attempting to accomplish running through him either as a target or a vicious decoy. That strategy required immediate adjustment with his departure during the opener against Notre Dame.
By the time the Buckeyes showed up to play Georgia in the CFP Semifinal, Stroud was NFL-ready despite being coached against being a ballcarrier himself. His rushing yards in 2022 came from Northwestern (79 yards in gale-force winds) and in the Peach Bowl (34 yards on 12 carries), which is to say they came from necessity and relaxed constraints.
Ohio State unintentionally went one-and-out with consecutive quarterbacks after Stroud left for the NFL. First, Kyle McCord lasted one season (after Quinn Ewers spent a season earning kombucha money, leaving for Texas once Stroud became established).
McCord went 11-1 as a starter, losing only at Michigan in what would be his final game. On the season, he threw for 3,170 yards at a 66% clip, while "rushing" for -65 yards on 32 "carries."
Ultimately, he left because his spot wasn't guaranteed - since his performance wasn't deemed good enough to justify job security. Devin Brown, who was never a playable option stuck it out and Will Howard transferred in from Kansas State for a graduate year.
While Howard only played for one year under Day, we need to talk about him because he was an Old Guy who brought a certain level of trust to the equation which his youthful predecessors, leave for Barrett, did not come equipped with as new starters in Columbus.
Wiill Howard celebrates a 1st down run beside Penn State linebacker Kobe King during the game at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa. on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. Ohio State won 20-13. © Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
| CMP | ATT | % | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | RTG | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KSU '20 | 90 | 168 | 53.6 | 1,178 | 7.0 | 8 | 10 | 116.3 | 78 | 364 | 4.7 | 3 |
| KSU '21 | 30 | 55 | 54.5 | 332 | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 107.6 | 32 | 184 | 5.8 | 4 |
| KSU '22 | 119 | 199 | 59.8 | 1,633 | 8.2 | 15 | 4 | 149.6 | 35 | 22 | 0.6 | 3 |
| KSU '23 | 219 | 357 | 61.3 | 2,643 | 7.4 | 24 | 10 | 140.1 | 81 | 351 | 4.3 | 9 |
| OSU '24 | 309 | 423 | 73.0 | 4,010 | 9.5 | 35 | 10 | 175.3 | 105 | 226 | 2.2 | 7 |
In case you needed measurables to be convinced that playing football in Columbus produces better passing marks than playing in Manhattan, here you go. Howard's maturity combined with a year under Day produced production which would have been impossible at Kansas State.
What's missing from that chart is the Dawg in Him column, which Howard had in spades - both with his side and power as well as with his leadership style and moxie. We'll never know what he might have been able to do had he transferred in a parallel universe to compete with McCord.
The McCord and Howard seasons gave way to Sayin earning the job entering 2025, which brings us to Ohio State's current condition of having a returning starter at QB for the first time since Stroud in 2022 and only the third time where Day was involved from the start.
| CMP | ATT | % | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | SCK | RTG | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 301 | 391 | 75.9 | 3,694 | 9.2 | 33 | 8 | 16 | 176.0 | 42 | (44) | (0.5) | 0 |
Sack yards as rushing yards is a trend that requires intervention. The program cannot pretend this doesn't matter anymore. Their losses are few and happen almost entirely on the margins. Philosophically forfeiting the threat of a QB run impairs everything the offense is trying to do.
Sayin produced a funhouse mirror-version of Stroud's sophomore season without the two rushing anomalies in Evanston and Atlanta, against what hindsight now demonstrably suggests was the weakest regular season schedule Day's teams have faced since the shortened pandemic year.
What's anticipated for year two is unmysterious. One part is physical; familiarity with a squat rack could go a long way to preventing Ohio State from losing tush push short yardage gimmes. Another part is leadership - the void left by Howard was obvious once the opponents were upgraded.
And then there's the ball carrier stuff, which aside from Howard's performance profile as a runner more than a passer has deliberately eluded OSU QB stat sheets ever since Fields took that rib shot against Clemson in New Orleans. If you can only have two of the three - improved physical strength, greater leadership, running threat - you're likely pulling for the first two to materialize.
Unless Day finally concludes Ohio State can't achieve its goals without having a quarterback who also runs the ball. The three whom he's allowed to run the ball - Barrett, Fields and Howard - arrived with that skill. It isn't something he's developed out of his starters, at least in Columbus.
But now, Day has a head coach of the offense and some hard lessons from the only two talent-equated games the Buckeyes played last season. Combine that with his development pedigree and it's fair to expect a significant performance leap from the QB position in 2026.
