Ohio State Lands Transfer Portal Quarterback That Will Put The Buckeyes Over The Top

A couple years ago when we did our annual Spring Position Rankings, the OTE staff voted the Then-Yet-To-Be-Named Ohio State Starting Quarterback as the best in the conference.

I objected to this conclusion, but I was wrong. C.J. Stroud has indeed been the best in the conference for two years, though he’s had plenty of help.

However, Stroud declared for the NFL draft on Monday, decimating the Buckeyes quarterback room. The departure of Quinn Ewers left them with only one 5-star quarterback from the 2021 class. Kyle McCord’s stablemates at the position are Devin Brown (merely the sixth-best quarterback of the 2022 class) and incoming freshman Lincoln Keinholz (who is rated outside of the top 199 overall players).

With Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana all adding transfer quarterbacks that are expected to compete for starting reps, the Buckeyes were not content to rest on their laurels. On Tuesday, Ryan Day more than doubled Ohio State’s experience at the quarterback position by adding a quarterback from the transfer portal.

As is typical of an Ohio State quarterback, his pedigree involves time spent at a program that has won national championships in my lifetime. However, the new addition can also boast experience turning around a struggling Power 5 program, overseeing an improvement from 2-10 the year of his arrival to 10-3 in his latest season.

I am of course talking about the man, the myth, the legend; six foot two and 205 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal named Tristan Gebbia.

The onetime Mike Riley protege confirmed that he would spend his seventh season in Columbus, having spent the past five seasons with the Oregon State Beavers after a redshirt freshman year at Nebraska.

Gebbia will have an immediate impact on the Ohio State quarterback room as the only one who can buy beer without a fake ID. He will also bring an element to Ohio State that Stetson Bennett brought to Georgia this past season: being 25 years old by bowl season. In fact, he’ll be older when the 2023 season starts than Bennett was to start the 2022 campaign!

Ryan Day’s next move is unclear, but he has locked up the only available quarterback who’s been on the same field as J.T. Barrett during a conference game, so he’s got that going for him.