Former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord called out the reporting surrounding his decision to transfer from the program to Syracuse back in December in a recent podcast appearance and also explained why he made the decision to leave the Buckeyes.
“I didn’t really say too much. After I left I kind of put out my statement and kept the reasons close, kind of in my inner circle. And I’ve had news outlets hit me up,” McCord said on The QB Room podcast. “I got one—a news outlet from Columbus—to hit me up to do a story and I didn’t answer it. Hit my family up to do a story, they didn’t answer. Hit people up in my circle to do a story, nobody answered. And then the next day, you go online, and they have an article published of the five reasons I left.
“And you read them and it’s just a bunch of BS,” he continued. “They’re just kind of pulling at strings at that point. The narrative, people read that and they think that’s true and so they start believing in it and posting it and it just kind of snowballs. And when you don’t really speak up about it, it is what it is.”
The quarterback didn’t name the publication directly, but it’s likely he’s referring to a December report from the Columbus Dispatch where the outlet reported that he wanted to be assured he’d be the Buckeyes starter in 2024 and coach Ryan Day declined to give any such guarantee. It went on to say that he wanted more name, image and likeness money but Ohio State was not willing to facilitate the pay bump.
McCord gave his side of the story on how he chose Syracuse and mentioned how he knew the coaching staff since his youth, adding they were the first coaches to reach out to him when he announced he was transferring.
“At the end of the day, Ohio State had to make a business decision that they felt was best for them, and I had to do the same thing,” McCord said. “And unfortunately it just wasn’t meant to be for next year. But at the end of the day, I felt like I put together some solid games, had some good tape, so I was confident when I went in the portal, I would find a good home.”
