If you didn't believe it before, now you can etch it in stone: Ohio State's quarterback battle is over.
Former five-star and No. 2 overall prospect Justin Fields transferred from Georgia to Ohio State in January, and is running off Buckeyes quarterbacks left and right. Redshirt freshman Matthew Baldwin has entered his name in the transfer portal and will leave the program. His announcement comes less than a week after the Buckeyes wrapped up spring practice last weekend.
Baldwin went 20 of 36 for 246 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions splitting time with the first and second teams during Ohio State's spring game Saturday, while Fields went 4 of 13 for 131 yards -- including a 98-yard touchdown pass to Binjimin Victor.
"I thought Matthew made a couple really nice throws down the field, but we turned it over a couple times and threw it to them, which is good for the defense," Day said after the game, according to 247Sports. "So we'll keep looking at it, but I thought both of them had positive days."
Despite the uneven stats in favor of Baldwin, it was unlikely that the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Austin, Texas, native had much of a chance to unseat Fields -- the top-ranked dual-threat quarterback and No. 2 overall player in the class of 2018 behind Clemson's Trevor Lawrence. Ohio State filed for and received a waiver from the NCAA that allows Fields to play immediately despite the rule that states undergraduates must sit out for one year after transferring.
Baldwin's decision -- which is partly due to a desire to be closer to home, according to Lettermen Row -- comes just three months after Tate Martell announced his departure to Miami shortly after Fields arrived on campus.
Day said after the spring game that there wouldn't be a decision on the Buckeyes starting quarterback yet, but Baldwin's departure all but confirms that Fields will be the man in Columbus in 2019. As a true freshman at Georgia behind Jake Fromm in 2018, Fields went 27 of 39 for 328 yards and four touchdowns, and added 266 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
West Virginia transfer Chris Chugunov is the only other scholarship quarterback on Ohio State's roster at this time. Chugunov went 43 of 90 for 536 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions for the Mountaineers in 2017.