Is Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord prepared for Penn State? How Ohio State’s new starting quarterback has developed

With six minutes left in the second quarter, Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord took a third-down snap from the Purdue 4-yard line. Because the Buckeyes were using a red zone concept, his dropback was purposefully short. Dallan Hayden came out of the backfield and swung to McCord’s right as a precaution. McCord, on the other hand, noticed tight end Cade Stover.

Stover took a short curl path to the goal line. Stover opened himself up in a tight window, surrounded by five defenders, two of whom were in position to make a play on the ball, and McCord didn’t hesitate. On a line, he blasted the ball to Stover for the Buckeyes’ third touchdown of the day.

Matt Simms was impressed by what he observed from McCord there. Simms, a former NFL quarterback who is now a quarterback teacher, has been working with McCord’s father, CBS analyst and two-time Super Bowl winner quarterback Phil Simms, since McCord was in high school. Phil initially worked with him, but Matt has been training McCord for the past few years.

“Early on, we didn’t see a lot of those, but it’s cool to see he’s gaining the confidence to make those types of throws in the first place and now has the ability to complete them,” Simms said.

It wasn’t the first time McCord used the things they worked on during the offseason to his advantage. He’s always had a powerful arm and a Division I body. Matt Simms recognized this immediately away, even when McCord was in high school at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia.

But his footwork has improved, as has his ability to throw the ball on a line with force, and Simms has observed as McCord has gained confidence with more reps this season.

Simms becomes delighted as he watches McCord’s play throughout his first year at Ohio State because he can see all of their work coming out in separate occasions. And, with No. 7 Penn State coming to town on Saturday, he’s looking forward to seeing McCord in action again, this time against Ohio native quarterback Drew Allar.

“Every time he’s been pressed to do more, he has done more,” Simms went on to say. “That’s why I’m so excited about Penn State because he doesn’t have a choice.” If they’re going to win, he’ll have to let it rip a few times. So far, we’ve seen that he’s done a terrific job of it.”

McCord spent much of the offseason preparing for times like these. Despite being in a months-long battle with Devin Brown for the starting job to replace C.J. Stroud, winning the competition did not impact training plans.

“I really just thought over time it was going to work itself out for Kyle,” Simms was quoted as saying. “The strategy was never altered. We weren’t doing specific things to win a quarterback fight. It was centered on the question, “How do we make this individual the best version of himself each rep?”

McCord has traditionally had the passing accuracy and touch to make any throw on the field. What they wanted to see was his ability to use his arm strength to smash a pass into space.

The Simms family watched with joy the last time McCord played in a top-10 game, when he led Ohio State on a 15-play, 65-yard winning touchdown drive in the dying minutes against Notre Dame. He is best known for completing a last-second third-and-19 pass to Emeka Egbuka, which set up Chip Trayanum’s game-winning touchdown run.

Aside from that throw, the Simms family believed McCord got into his proper form and let it rip.

“One thing we stressed to him was that if you want to be one of these guys who is a dominant presence on the field, you have to make dynamic power throws,” Simms told ESPN. “You have to make throws like Josh Allen and some of those other guys where it’s 6 feet off the ground 40 yards downfield.”

Simms and McCord worked on technique, such as where his feet should be and how McCord’s body should be turned to generate torque and power to drive the ball. Simms compares it to killing prey with a spear.

“You are trying to drive the spear of the football as aggressively as you can through your target,” he explained.

 

McCord had shown flashes but had been up and down until that drive. Many people have noticed a more confident McCord since then. McCord has 596 yards and five touchdowns in the last two games against Maryland and Purdue. Since Week 1, he hasn’t thrown an interception. McCord enters the weekend rated second in the Big Ten in pass efficiency rating, having completed 64.1 percent of his throws for 1,651 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception.

“Every week it improves and gets better,” Day went on to say. “There’s certain things you see for the first time each time you’re out there.”

Simms can sense it as well. McCord has never lacked confidence, but gradual development resulting in results on the field is instilling even more faith. The hope is that Ohio State will expand McCord’s playbook and give him more responsibility.

Day believes McCord is on the right road, following a similar pattern to other quarterbacks in terms of learning more of the playbook. Those discussions boil down to trust and confidence, he adds.

“You’re trying to build the confidence up and challenge Kyle to grow in certain areas,” Day went on to say. “He’s responded positively to that.” The difficulty we have this week will be significant.”

According to TruMedia, the Penn State defense leads the nation in yards per play, has allowed just one touchdown pass, and produces more pressure than any other team. Simms reflected on the Notre Dame game as McCord prepared for his second top-10 showdown.

He frequently compares the quarterbacks he trains to captains of ships. After the victory, he communicated with McCord via text messages.

“I said, ‘Captain Kyle McCord, you have now been promoted to the rank of major.'” “And I saluted him,” Simms remarked, laughing. “That was the one time he didn’t have an option. If he wanted to win the game, he had to play like that, and you can see bits and pieces of that since Notre Dame.”

McCord now has another opportunity to demonstrate how much he has matured.