Chip Kelly Bringing His Option Offense To Ohio State Creates Crucial Decision At Quarterback

Chip Kelly left his job as a head coach in the Big Ten to become an offensive coordinator in the Big Ten. He will take a $4-ish million pay cut for a demotion at Ohio State. It is an unexpected and earth-shattering move that makes UCLA look very silly. The Bruins are left with red faces.

Meanwhile, Ryan Day doubled down on the 2024 college football season by replacing Bill O’Brien with another big-name hire. O’Brien left to become the head coach at Boston College after less than one month. Day hired Kelly.

Kelly coached Day when he was a quarterback at New Hampshire. They have coached on the same staff together at UNH, with the 49ers and with the Eagles. This is the first time that Kelly will work under Day, as opposed to the other way around.

Chip Kelly has a decision to make at quarterback.

Ohio State refused to promise Kyle McCord that he would be the starting quarterback in 2024 so he left. The incumbent starter transferred to Syracuse.

That left Day with Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz and incoming freshman Air Noland. He chose to go shopping and ultimately signed Kansas State transfer Will Howard out of the portal. It may not have been the Buckeyes’ first choice, but he ultimately became their guy.

Howard is likely getting compensated pretty well through NIL in Columbus for one season. This upcoming year will be his final year on the collegiate level and the 22-year-old fifth-year senior is expected to start.

But nothing is in stone. Kelly’s arrival makes things interesting.

His option offense is not a walk in the park. He encourages players to ask questions.

I think each individual coach tries to really dig deep on the learning style that’s most conducive to that player. Then try to spend time with them during that part of it. A lot of it comes back friom the feedback from players and the players comfortable enough to share with you what they do know and what they don’t know. Sometimes if you’re a new kid, you just nod your head and say “I got it” because I don’t want coach know that I don’t have it because it might affect me on the depth chart. That’s not what we’re looking for. We want to make sure that our coaches are transporting the knowledge to our players because it’s what our players know not coaches because coaches aren’t playing.

— Chip Kelly on Aug. 22, 2023

Is there a world in which Kelly doesn’t go with Howard? Though improbable, yes. Absolutely.

Howard is surprisingly quick on his feet. The 6-foot-5, 242-pound quarterback ran the ball 210 times for 870 yards and 17 touchdowns during his four seasons in Manhattan.

It is hard to imagine a world where Howard does not win the starting job. Especially with the amount of effort that Day and his staff put in to recruiting him. More than likely, both O’Brien and Kelly’s agreements to become the offensive coordinator correlated to Howard starting.

However, it is possible that he is not the best fit for Kelly’s system. The Wildcats took snaps away from Howard last season in favor of the much faster Avery Johnson. They ultimately encouraged him to seek new opportunity in the portal because they loved what they saw from their freshman.

Who is to say that Chip Kelly won’t feel similarly?

Kienholz, a four-star prospect in the Class of 2023, ran for 1,436 yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior in high school. He can scoot!

Five-star freshman Air Noland has a cannon for an arm and mostly stayed in the pocket during his senior season. His legs are also a weapon, and he is impressive when throwing on the run.

Perhaps he will steal snaps from Howard like Johnson.

And then there’s Devin Brown. The former four-star lost the job to McCord last year after dealing with some minor injury issues. His skillset could translate well to an option offense.