PFF ranks Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud among all 130 FBS starters

PFF has been rather bold in its write-ups, and this is as well. See where it ranks C.J. Stroud overall among all college football quarterbacks for 2021.

The Ohio State football team will be ushering in a new starting quarterback this season. I mean, with Justin Fields becoming the savior of the Chicago Bears and all (so we hope).

And while it is supposed to be a three quarterback race between freshmen C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller, and Kyle McCord, it seems Pro Football Focus already has its mind made up on who will get the starting nod, and it’s Fields’ de facto backup from last season, Stroud.

We tend to agree at this point, but Ryan Day and staff have gone out of their way to proclaim and reiterate that it is an open competition and that all three are in the mix for earning the starting spot.

No matter. Anthony Treash of PFF went ahead and took Stroud as the starter and ranked him amongst the rest of the 130 FBS starters. And … you may be more surprised than a coherent Jim Harbaugh answer at a press conference as to where he landed. We wonder if we want to put too much stock in a writing crew that said Ryan Day was NOT one of the best 20 coaches in college football, but we digress.

NEXT … Where PFF ranked C.J. Stroud among all starting FBS quarterbacks

Bet MGM Lists Three Buckeyes in Top 50 Heisman Odds

BetMGM currently has three Ohio State Buckeyes in their list of options to bet for winning the Heisman Trophy in 2021.

We here at Buckeyes Wire try our best to monitor the gambling odds situation in the college football landscape and we pay even closer attention to the odds presented over at BetMGM. We recently discussed C.J. Stroud being a strong legitimate sleeper candidate to take home the Heisman Trophy, but at the time of that article, there were no odds on BetMGM. Now with the odds back up it’s time to take a peak at the three Buckeyes that have the strongest odds to win the Heisman Trophy.

 

Should you bet on C.J. Stroud to win the Heisman Trophy?

Sportsbooks are releasing their Heisman Trophy odds for 2021, and Ohio State has an interesting option with quarterback C.J. Stroud.

The college football season is just around the corner and sportsbooks are slowly starting to release various odds and futures and one that should be particularly interesting is the futures placed on the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner.

After looking over a number of odds from various sportsbooks, C.J. Stroud is the consensus top Ohio State player on the board but is given anywhere from top ten odds at 20/1 to being barely in the top 15 at 33/1. In most circles, he is considered a longshot as the majority of bettors will be taking the favorites in Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler at 9/2, Alabama’s Bryce Young at 13/2, and Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei at 7/1.

I typically wouldn’t suggest betting on a freshman quarterback who has taken zero in-game snaps, but noted college football gambling expert, Brad Powers has me thinking differently. Powers recently tweeted out his ticket with Stroud’s name at the top and he mentions that the Ohio State quarterback is his favorite longshot bet.

After seeing this ticket, I reevaluated the situation and have faith that this is a solid bet. It seems risky, but besides Oklahoma, the top powerhouses in college football are all breaking in new starters. Ohio State has arguably the best receivers in college football, three starters returning on a strong offensive line, and a quarterback-friendly offense. I say it’s time to empty the wallet!

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Ryan Day provides update on Ohio State’s quarterback battle

Ohio State coach Ryan Day met with media to wrap up spring Friday and provided a bit of an update on the quarterback competition and timing.

It has been (and will continue to be) the most-watched position battle at Ohio State heading into the season opener this fall against Minnesota. Who will take over for Justin Fields as he heads off to make a slew of money in the NFL? Right now, it’s a three-horse race between redshirt freshmen C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller, and true freshman Kyle McCord.

We got a little glimpse of what each brings to the table during the spring game, but there’s still a long way to go. Head coach Ryan Day has been very honest, or coy — depending on how you look at it — when he’s had opportunities with the media, but he continues to call it to close to call. It’s clear that the race will continue into fall camp.

Speaking of Day, he met with the media on Friday. He provided at least some thinking as to where things are at, and what to expect as things head towards fall camp with the three vying to be the face of the Ohio State football team for the next year and perhaps beyond.

First things first, while the team will be without an official practice for about three months, all three have to commit to the strength and conditioning program.

“They’re tasked with being obsessed with learning the offense, and a lot goes with that,” Day told reporters. “They got to get in the weight. They got to get stronger, they gotta get faster, they gotta get quicker. We grade our guys in there, and we have a champions meeting right before the beginning of preseason camp. And if you’re gold, then that means that you’re one of the top performers in the weight room. That’s the first thing they’ve gotta do.”

But beyond that, Day just wants to give all three a chance, but knows that the priority is for each to develop as quickly as they can to be ready to lead the team when the season kicks off.

“I think the idea is to get the guys ready,” Day continued. “Across the board the focus is ‘Who’s the starter?’ OK — well — you could be the starter, but if you’re not ready to go that’s not gonna last very long. So the race is to get ready to play. The focus for these guys, again, just has to be ‘How do I get developed faster? How do I get the most ready to play in this season faster?’ Not trying to win the job, because I think maybe sometimes, it’s ‘How do I compare myself to the guy next to me?’ It’s not about that. It’s ‘How do I get myself ready,’ because we have to go win some really hard games this season.”

And perhaps more important than anything Day said, he touched on when the ideal time is to have a starter named between the three. He won’t hand one of them the keys to the offense just to get things going, but would love to turn things over to an official starter to allow for more reps and improvement.

“If we feel like someone’s taken that much of a step ahead, and they’re ready to play against Minnesota in that first week, then we’ll name the starter at that point,” Day said. “If it’s not until the week before, it’s not gonna be until the week before. It would be ideal to be able to name somebody a little bit sooner than that so they can get the majority of the reps. But until someone really puts themselves out in front of the other two, we’ll just keep going.”

OK. So there you have it. There’s been a ton of speculation about who is really leading this race (us included), but Day is determined to give all three a realistic shot at competing and letting this thing play out.

And that’s really how it should be. But that won’t stop us from asking.

Ohio State football 2021 projected depth chart, pre-spring offense

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Ohio State spring game winners and loser

The Ohio State Buckeyes have completed their spring game. Who came out on top and who needs more work?

The Ohio State football team has ended its spring game, and despite the weird format and there being no tackling, we were able to at least start to answer some questions. Some of that came from the much-anticipated quarterback battle — though it’s a long haul and not a one-moment-in-time proposition.

Team Brutus defeated team Buckeye to a tune of 28 to 13, but in the grand scheme of things, it means absolutely nothing. Ryan Day and the coaching staff rotated all three quarterbacks between the two teams and the team vs. team format only existed for the first half. So who looked good, and who could have made better on their opportunities?

Here are two winners and two losers from what we saw from the 2021 Ohio State LiFESports spring game on Saturday.

NEXT … The clear winners

Ohio State spring game winners and loser

The Ohio State Buckeyes have completed their spring game. Who came out on top and who needs more work?

The Ohio State football team has ended its spring game, and despite the weird format and there being no tackling, we were able to at least start to answer some questions. Some of that came from the much-anticipated quarterback battle — though it’s a long haul and not a one-moment-in-time proposition.

Team Brutus defeated team Buckeye to a tune of 28 to 13, but in the grand scheme of things, it means absolutely nothing. Ryan Day and the coaching staff rotated all three quarterbacks between the two teams and the team vs. team format only existed for the first half. So who looked good, and who could have made better on their opportunities?

Here are two winners and two losers from what we saw from the 2021 Ohio State LiFESports spring game on Saturday.

NEXT … The clear winners

Three and out Ohio State football spring game halftime review

The first half of the Ohio State football spring game is in the books and we have already found out a few things. Here are three.

The annual LifeSports Ohio State spring game has kicked off and although the format is different and no tackling will take place, the hype and anticipation is as high as ever. With one of the biggest quarterback battles in Ohio State history taking place, below is some of our notes from the first half, as things will now switch to a different format.

Some of the names and numbers might be different, but so far at least, it looks pretty clear that there is abundant talent and playmaking, most especially in the passing game.

Here is our halftime, three and out review of what we saw during the first half of a beautiful scene of Ohio State playing football in the ‘Shoe with some of the general public in attendance once again.

NEXT … The talent at wide receiver

Where is Ohio State football ranked in ESPN’s future top offenses?

ESPN is projecting certain aspects of college football teams’ performances. Next up is the offense, and it has Ohio State among the best.

During the offseason, we’re undoubtedly going to get a lot of rankings and lists to pass the spring and summer doldrums before activity heats up toward the start of a new college football season. We roll our stuff out as well, but ESPN has been taking a look ahead at the next few seasons in its future power rankings pieces by taking into account projected talent because of recruiting, current talent and head coaches. It is specifically designed to look at the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Next up is a top 25 ranking of college football offenses (subscription required) over that period put together by Adam Rittenberg. It’s now an offense-driven game; gone are the days of dominating with defense and an adequate offense. Few teams have embraced all the fun of laser light shows and fireworks on the unit responsible for scoring points, and Ohio State is at, or near the top, of that list.

But where did ESPN and Rittenberg rank the Buckeyes? You might be a little surprised — or not. Here’s where OSU falls in future offensive power according to the worldwide leader in sports programming.

NEXT … Future top 25 ESPN ranking of the Ohio State offense

Ohio State football pre-spring 2021 projected offensive depth chart

With spring just around the corner, we’re unveiling another edition of an early Ohio State football projected 2021 offensive depth chart.

Believe it or not, it’s almost here. Ohio State will begin its spring drills just around the corner on March 19. Mat drills have already begun for the returning roster and the early enrollees for 2021, and it’s almost time to begin forming what this team will look like on the field with the first of fifteen practices that will all culminate in some sort of Spring Game on April 17.

Periodically, leading up to the season in September, we go through the exercise of projecting what the depth chart might look like for what we hope will be another run to a fifth straight Big Ten Championship, College Football Playoff appearance, and a potential national title.

We’ll start with the offensive side of the ball where Ohio State has to replace one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the program with Justin Fields departure to the NFL, and we’ll follow it up with a separate projection of what the defensive depth chart might be at this very early stage of putting the team together.

Here’s what we project the Ohio State football 2021 offensive depth chart will be just a couple of weeks before the Buckeyes get going in spring.

USA TODAY weighs in on who will replace Justin Fields this fall

Ohio State has to replace Justin Fields this fall and it appears to be a three-man competition. USA TODAY Sports says this guy will win out.

Yes, it’s true Ohio State fans. Justin Fileds off to the NFL and it feels like we all got robbed of what could have been an even better career in Columbus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, it was fun while it lasted, and now it’s time to look at who his successor might be.

All indications point to a three-man race to replace Fields at the quarterback spot. The coaches have said that it’ll be an open competition between rising sophomores C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller, and the early enrollee, rising freshman Kyle McCord. A lot of times you can look at what happened when things were on the line to see where the early pecking order is, but that could all change when each guy gets his turn to show what he has with all the reps of spring ball and beyond.

The spotlight is now. We dove into handicapping this quarterback derby a little, but we’re not the only ones. In fact, Paul Myerberg from our mothership USA TODAY Sports also took a look at one of the most intriguing and high-profile position battles in all of college football.

Here is what he said.

NEXT … Who Myerberg believes will win the OSU QB competition