By MITCH STACY AP Sports Writer, and staff
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio State coach Ryan Day says Georgia transfer Justin Fields will be the starting quarterback when the No. 5 Buckeyes open the season Aug. 31 against Florida Atlantic.
UPDATED 8/20/19 6:04 a.m.
Day’s announcement of the choice of Fields as starting quarterback Monday put a rubber stamp on what most figured was a foregone conclusion.
“All the guys had good camps but Justin kind of separated himself last week,” Day told reporters Monday.
Day also announced that seven players had been named team captains this year: defensive linemen Jonathon Cooper, a senior from Gahanna, and Chase Young, a junior from Hyattsville, Md.; wide receivers C.J. Saunders, a senior from Dublin, and K.J. Hill, a senior from Little Rock, Rk.; safety Jordan Fuller, a senior from Old Tappan, N.J., junior LB Tuf Borland from Bolingbrook, Ill., and running back J.K. Dobbins, a junior from La Grange, Texas.
Borland and Fuller are repeat selection from 2018 and represent the 13th and 14th two-time captains in program history.
When the fall practices began, only two quarterbacks had worn the scarlet and gray in 2018: Chris Chugunov, a graduate transfer who spent two seasons from West Virginia, and Danny Vanatsky, a sophomore from Cincinnati. – were with the program last year.
Fields, a sophomore who began working out with the team in the spring, appeared in 12 games last year for the Bulldogs, completing 27 of 39 passes for 328 yards and four TDs while also rushing for four touchdowns.
For the first few weeks of preseason camp, Day insisted the QB competition was close between Fields and graduate transfer Gunnar Hoak, from Dublin.
“Right now [Fields is] starting to scratch the surface. I still don’t think he’s where he needs to be,” Day told reporters. “After this week, I think he played at a starter level, earned the job. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
Hoak, a Dublin Coffman High School alumnus who graduated from the University of Kentucky in May, is expected to be Fields’ backup. He completed 13 of 26 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns in four games for the Wildcats.
Jagger LaRoe joined the program in June following a redshirt season at Texas A&M.
Day’s announcement came minutes after the Associated Press released its preseason Top 25.
The Buckeyes are ranked No. 5, behind Clemson, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma.