Kyle McCord made headlines as one of the initial high-profile college football players to enter the transfer portal last December. The former Ohio State starting quarterback departed just weeks after the regular season concluded and ultimately committed to Syracuse for the 2024 season. It was a surprising move by McCord, who had interest from other power conference programs. So, how did the Orange and first-year head coach Fran Brown pull off the unexpected transfer recruitment?
“My wife did that,” Brown said this week at ACC Media Days. “Her and his father worked together at the hospital. My wife was in school and her clinical was becoming an RN before she became a nurse anesthetist and he worked there also. And she kept telling me about this kid that was really good in middle school. She was like, ‘I’m telling you, his dad would always show us the film.’ One day I got a chance to go and watch him play Little League Football and I was like, ‘Oh snap. He can actually play.'”
Teara Brown and Derek McCord, a former Rutgers quarterback, worked together at a Philadelphia area hospital. At the time, Brown was an assistant coach at Temple.
Brown said once McCord entered the portal, he immediately called and set up an in-home visit with the McCords in New Jersey. Brown was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey.
“You know everyone hears who is going to hit the portal, who’s going to hit it,” Brown continued. “And I (told) our staff, that was the mission if he hit the portal, tell me. And as soon as he hit the portal, he told me, I called him, ‘What’s up? Where are you at? You need to play for me.’ I was telling him all the things why I thought me and him needed each other and we understood each other. We were from the same area and all. I just thought it would be great for my career to have such a good leader right away and then it would be great for him to have a coach that — and nothing towards his last coach — but just to have a coach that truly wanted him to be the leader of our football team. I thought that that mattered when he knows that I have confidence in him and he has confidence in me. We got on the private plane and I went right to him. I wouldn’t leave. I was there from 6:00 (p.m.) to about 1:30 a.m.”
McCord spent just one season as the starting quarterback at Ohio State in 2024. He was a serviceable option for the Buckeyes, but the offense finished with its lowest points per game (30.5) average since 2011. McCord completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions.
“For me, it was all about the people,” McCord said of his decision to transfer to Syracuse. “Obviously I’ve known coach Fran for a while. I’ve known coach (Jeff Nixon) in the OC for a while. Coach (Nunzio Campanile), a quarterback coach for a while. Looking at the team, I feel like it was a great situation for me to come in, have a lot of talent around me, have success early on.”
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Syracuse opens the 2024 season Aug. 31 against Ohio.