Can Ohio State's Kyle McCord overcome inexperience with poise in QB duel with Sam Hartman?
Marvin Harrison Jr. remembers Kyle McCord making his first start in high school in Philadelphia.
It was when they were sophomores at St. Joseph's Prep and preparing for St. Frances Academy, a nationally ranked program in Baltimore that featured future Michigan star Blake Corum in its backfield.
Lightning led to the game being called off in the third quarter, but McCord made an impression on his teammates.
“He came out there poised,” Harrison said, “and he trusted in himself to make the plays.”
As McCord settles in as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback, his composure has continued to stand out.
“Kyle handles the pressure pretty well,” running back TreVeyon Henderson said, “That’s what I like about Kyle. He’s never folding. He’s never panicking. He’s always calm and relaxed even when things aren’t going our way.”
Added tight end Cade Stover, “You want to call it poise, you want to call it composure, I think he has all of the above.”
He’ll need a heavy dose on Saturday night as the Buckeyes visit Notre Dame for a top-10 matchup to be held in primetime at one of the sport’s most tradition-rich sites.
The Irish present a significant test for the junior.
Not only does McCord face a defense that held Ohio State to its lowest-scoring total last season, but he’ll also be in a quarterback duel with one of the most experienced passers in the nation.
Sam Hartman, a sixth-year senior who transferred from Wake Forest to Notre Dame last January, is making his 50th career start this week. The 24-year-old's first with the Demon Deacons was in 2018 when Urban Meyer was still at the helm of the Buckeyes.
It’s a 180-degree turn from the teams’ meeting in Columbus last September when C.J. Stroud was entrenched as Ohio State’s starting quarterback with the Irish relying on a first-time starter in Tyler Buchner, an element that contributed to the Buckeyes’ 21-10 win with Stroud throwing two touchdowns to rally in the second half.
In the rematch, Ohio State no longer has the edge in experience in the pocket, a gap that coach Ryan Day acknowledged as a factor in a clash between evenly matched teams.
“Experience does play a part of it,” Day said. “It's not the No. 1 thing overall. There's a lot of other things that come with it, but it's significant.”
One reason it could prove to be a little less significant is that, while making just his fifth start, McCord has been in the program for more than two years.
“Kyle’s been around,” Day said. “He hasn’t played a whole bunch of football. But he has been around. He’s seen it. He’s older and more mature than maybe a freshman who is coming into the same situation.”
McCord, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is also coming off his best start, having thrown for 318 yards and three touchdowns in last Saturday’s rout of Western Kentucky, and has continued to grow in practice this week in Day’s eyes, showing more poise and purpose.
“Everything’s not brand new anymore,” Day said.
Day added that McCord is giving him good feedback about what he saw between plays, a sign of his grasp of the offense.
Hartman, the quarterback for Notre Dame, is a savvy passer. Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles mentioned this week that he was impressed by his decision-making, along with the veteran’s intangible qualities.
“He’s an impressive guy to be able to come in and be a captain as a transfer,” Knowles said. “It’s the decision-making and leadership that he brings to the table that makes him different.”
In four starts for the Irish, he has thrown for 1,061 yards and 13 touchdowns with a 71.1% completion percentage.
Only two quarterbacks in the Football Bowl Subdivision have double-digit passing touchdowns without an interception. The other is Southern California’s Caleb Williams, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner who has thrown 12 without a pick.
For as much as McCord has been praised for his poise to start this season, he hopes to maintain a balanced demeanor.
“You want to have enough composure,” McCord said, “and kind of a calm sense about you that if something doesn't go your way, that the guys know that everything's going to be all right. We're going to work it out
“But at the same time, I think you want to have kind of that fiery competitive side to you as well and being able to push the guys and continue to lead in that way.”
That approach will be on display against the Irish.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on Facebook and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He can also be contacted at jkaufman@dispatch.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Kyle McCord in QB duel with Notre Dame's Sam Hartman
