Ohio State McCord primarily spent his freshman season at Ohio State as the backup to starter
C. J. Stroud. He made one start against
Akron while Stroud was recovering from a shoulder injury. In the game, McCord completed 13 of 18 passing attempts for 319 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in a 59–7 win and was named the
Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week. He finished the season with 416 passing yards and two touchdown passes and two interceptions in five games played. McCord entered his sophomore season as the Buckeyes second-string quarterback. He appeared in seven games, all off the bench, and completed 16 of 20 pass attempts for 190 yards and one touchdown. McCord competed with
Devin Brown during spring practices and preseason training camp to succeed Stroud as Ohio State's starting quarterback in 2023. He was named the starter for the Buckeyes' season opener, although head coach
Ryan Day stated that the competition was still ongoing. After completing 14 of 20 pass attempts for 258 yards and three touchdowns in a 35–7 victory in week 2 vs
Youngstown State, McCord was named the starter for the rest of the 2023 season. In Week 4 against
Notre Dame, McCord led a game-winning drive in the final two minutes as Ohio State won, 17–14. In Week 13 against the
Michigan Wolverines, McCord threw for 271 yards and 2 touchdowns, but also threw a game-ending interception on Ohio State's final drive to
Rod Moore as Ohio State lost, 30–24. Prior to Ohio State’s
2023 Cotton Bowl Classic appearance, McCord entered the NCAA transfer portal, following Ryan Day's declining to say if McCord would start the team’s bowl game or to commit to McCord as the starting quarterback for the following season.
Syracuse On December 17, 2023, McCord announced that he would be transferring to
Syracuse. At Syracuse, McCord joined incoming head coach
Fran Brown, whom he has known since his playing days in little league football. Brown flew to Columbus the day McCord entered the transfer portal to visit him in his apartment. has a weekly radio show titled
"The Kyle McCord Show", and has his own flavor of potato chips with the Terrell's brand. Syracuse ended the regular season with a 9–3 winning record, with ranked wins over
Georgia Tech,
UNLV, and
Miami. McCord broke multiple single-season all-time program records in his lone season with the Orange. McCord's 29 passing touchdown eclipsed
Ryan Nassib's 26 in the
2012 season. He threw 300 yards or more in 11 games of the 12, missing only against
Virginia Tech where he threw for 280. His 470 yards performance against
UConn was second highest in team history, only behind Nassib's 482 yards against
Northwestern in 2012. In the final regular season game against 6th-ranked Miami, McCord threw for 380 yards and became program’s first 4,000-yard passer with 4,326 yards. He was named ACC Player of the Week for the ranked win over
Georgia Tech in his first conference game. For his performance against Miami, McCord was named
AP national Player of the week, as well as
Maxwell &
Davey O'Brien Player of the Week. On November 18, 2024, McCord accepted his invitation to the 100th
East–West Shrine Bowl. McCord was ranked No. 1 nationally in the regular season in total passing yards (4,326), passing attempts (558), completions (367), completions per game (30.58), and passing yards per contest (360). He was fourth in passing touchdowns (29). McCord was a finalist for
Manning Award, named to the Davey O'Brien Quarterback Class, Davey O'Brien Great 8, and
Golden Arm Award Top-25. McCord finished 10th in the final
Heisman Trophy voting. This represents the best finish for an Orange player since
Dwight Freeney finished ninth in
2001. In the
2024 Holiday Bowl 52–35 win against
Washington State, McCord finished the game with 5 passing touchdowns and 453 yards to put his season total at 4,779. With this, he passed
Deshaun Watson's ACC single season passing yards record of 4,593 yards set in the
2016 season with Clemson. On January 10, 2025, McCord declared for the
2025 NFL draft.
Statistics ==Professional career==