COLUMBUS – The competition between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown to become Ohio State’s starting quarterback was expected to be the center piece of the Buckeyes’ spring football game on Saturday, but an injury to Brown’s throwing hand has changed that.

OSU coach Ryan Day revealed Brown’s injury during a press conference on Wednesday.

“Devin had a procedure done today on his throwing hand on his finger so he’s not going to be available on Saturday,” Day said. “He is going to be throwing again real soon but he won’t be able to actually play in the game on Saturday.”

McCord, a junior, has been C.J. Stroud’s back-up the last two seasons and started against Akron in 2021 when Stroud did not play because of a sore shoulder. Brown, a former 4-star recruit, is a redshirt freshman.

Day said both have done good things during spring practice but both have also had moments when improvement was needed. Naming a starter is still something he is not ready to do.

“There has been really good quarterback play this spring. There have been a lot of ups and downs along the way. It would be nice to have it be black and white. I can’t sit here right now and tell you it is. I think they’ve both done really good things, I think there are things they both have to improve on. I think if both of them were sitting here they’d tell you the same thing,” he said.

“It’s two guys competing. One day one guy might have the upper hand, the next day the other guy might have the upper hand. The reps (repetitions) have been split up evenly. After the spring we’ll go through and take a look at the numbers.”

Day said Saturday’s game is “a great opportunity to put it on the field” for McCord and likely third-team quarterback Tristan Gebbia.