After three years as a backup quarterback at Ohio State, Brown will look to continue his college football career elsewhere in 2025, he announced Sunday on social media.

Brown, who has been Ohio State’s No. 2 quarterback this season behind Will Howard, will remain with the Buckeyes for their College Football Playoff run.

The sixth-ranked quarterback in the 247Sports composite rankings for the 2022 recruiting class, Brown competed for Ohio State’s starting quarterback job before each of the last two seasons but was beaten out by Kyle McCord and Will Howard, respectively. Brown was the subject of transfer speculation last offseason, too, but he shut down that speculation when he posted a picture on social media of flaming ships in open water, referencing the “burn the boats” mindset Hernan Cortes and the conquistadors adopted when they arrived in the New World.

“I think people are cowards. I think people have this thought in their own heads that I will leave and I’m a quitter, but that’s never been me,” Brown said after Ohio State’s first spring practice on March 4. “These people live wherever, in their mom’s basement, saying stuff about me, and they don’t know s—. Excuse my language, but they don’t know anything. They don’t know who I am. They don’t know who I’ve been. That’s who I’ve always been.”

Facing the possibility of being the backup again next year with current freshman Julian Sayin viewed as the favorite to start for Ohio State in 2025, however, Brown has decided it’s time to go to another school where he will have a better chance to win the starting job next season.

Brown made his lone start as a Buckeye in the 2023 Cotton Bowl against Missouri. However, his performance in the New Year’s Six Bowl lasted only four possessions, as the 6-foot-3, 214-pound quarterback suffered an ankle sprain while being sacked in the first quarter of the contest.

Brown has appeared in eight games this season, completing 10 of 19 passes for 108 yards, highlighted by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith against Michigan State when he entered the game in relief of Howard after Howard had the wind knocked out of him.

Brown has two more years of collegiate eligibility.

He becomes the fourth Ohio State player since the end of the regular season to announce he is entering the transfer portal, joining wide receivers Kojo Antwi and Jayden Ballard and linebacker Gabe Powers. He is the first among them to say he will remain with the Buckeyes for the CFP.

The transfer portal officially opens on Monday. The portal will be open for players to enter from Dec. 9-28, though players on teams still playing in the postseason will get an additional five-day window to enter the portal after their seasons end. Players do not have to choose their transfer destinations before the portal window closes, and there will be another 10-day window for players to enter the portal from April 16-25.