Devin Brown got his chance in the Cotton Bowl to show he would be the guy for the starting job going forward, but another injury got in the way of that opportunity and he was only able to throw six passes in the game.
“I was just sick,” Brown said. “I remember sitting there after the game thinking about how I couldn’t help in the game. I wasn’t able to do anything.”
Head coach Ryan Day went into the transfer portal to add another quarterback after that game, bringing Will Howard in from Kansas State for his last year of eligibility. Then Julian Sayin and Air Noland joined the quarterback room making it very crowded with five of them vying for the spot.
With the transfer portal opening up again after spring practices it was hard not to wonder whether Brown would go that way now that he might not be the No. 1 guy going into the fall. Brown shot that down quickly and said he is embracing the competition.
“That’s Ohio State. You’re always going to have the best players no matter what. I didn’t care coming in here who was in here,” Brown said. “I’ve never cared who’s in here. I’ve said it from the start, I could care less. I’m going to come and compete. That’s always been my motto.
“I’ve said it before, through and through I’m a Buckeye and I’m here to compete no matter what.”
It’s the same message he put out after Kyle McCord entered the transfer portal in December, saying he intended to see his time at Ohio State through and that he isn’t scared of competing for a spot. He doesn’t seem to care for people who suggest otherwise about him.
“Honestly I think people are cowards,” Brown said. “People have this thought in their own heads that I’m going to leave and I’m a quitter, but that’s never been me. These people live in their mom’s basement saying stuff about me and they don’t know s—t.”
Not only is he embracing the competition, but he is approaching it with the confidence which he says he’s had his entire time at Ohio State.
“I have all the confidence in the world,” Brown said. “I’ll never doubt myself. I’ll never waver or anything like that. I’m always going to think that I’m the best quarterback in the room, the best quarterback in the country so I’m going to take it like that.”
He believes he was already close to winning the job over McCord last season even though he wasn’t able to play in the spring game due to another injury, even saying he thought he was ahead in the battle for a while.
But Brown hasn’t been able to get into a game for an extended period and really show what he’s able to do because both times he was being used, he limped away with an ankle injury, but he’s ready to show what he can do this season.
“I can’t wait for football to be here again,” he said. “The sour taste I had in my mouth after that game, it’s just been sitting inside me and rotting. That fuel has been building in me and I’m ready to unleash this flame and go out there and do something.”
