Ohio will begin its 2023 campaign this weekend against San Diego State. As the team prepares to defend their Mid-American Conference East championship, we’ll break down the 2023 roster position by position.
The Post will be previewing each position group daily leading up to this week's game. Up first: Quarterbacks.
Who’s Gone
Ohio lost only one quarterback at the conclusion of last season in redshirt sophomore Kadin Beler.
Beler’s three-year tenure with the team began in 2020 but he did not receive a snap until 2022 against Bowling Green. Beler did not attempt a pass at Ohio. The Quarterback entered the transfer portal at the conclusion of the 2022 season with three years of eligibility remaining.
Who’s Back
Ohio is fortunate to return four quarterbacks from the 2022 season including MAC Player of the Year Kurtis Rourke and CJ Harris who was at the helm for Ohio’s Arizona Bowl game victory.
Rourke enters his fifth and final year at Ohio as a graduate student. The Quarterback out of Canada has been taking quality snaps for the Bobcats since 2020. In Rourke’s career, he has amassed 4,912 passing yards and 35 passing touchdowns, each ranking top 10 in school history. Rourke is the reigning MAC player of the year.
CJ Harris will also enter 2023 as a graduate student and his fourth year with Ohio. 2022 was the first year that Harris took meaningful snaps for the Bobcats. In his first career start versus Bowling Green, Harris led Ohio to a 38-14 victory that clinched the MAC East.
Ohio will also return Callum Wither and Parker Navarro. Wither enters 2023 as a redshirt freshman after graduating from a high school in Canada in 2021 where he passed for 2,140 yards and 15 touchdowns. Navarro is a former UCF transfer who enters his second year at Ohio as a graduate student. In 2022, Navarro completed five passes for 43 yards.
Who’s New
Ohio added one Quarterback to the roster going into 2023, Jacob Winters.
Winters joined the squad as a freshman out of Jackson, Ohio, where he was a three-star recruit and received offers from other MAC schools such as Akron, Eastern Michigan, and Bowling Green.
Position Outlook
Returning from injury, Rourke is still expected to take a majority of the snaps for Ohio in 2023. As the reigning MAC player of the year, Ohio is in good hands if Rourke can remain healthy.
Though Rourke is expected to be ready for week 0 against San Diego State, CJ Harris will likely be the first to take snaps if Rourke is unavailable.
