OSU QB Devin Brown's hobbies include cliff jumping, flying the family plane and fishing

Ohio State quarterback Devin Brown pushed Kyle McCord for the starter's job two games into the 2023 season. After that, the team mainly used Brown as a red zone quarterback, a job he performed until he suffered an ankle injury against Penn State.

Given Brown's athleticism and the fact that McCord is also battling an ankle sprain, it would not be a surprise to see Brown back in that role once he's healthy again. In which case, he would be able to add to his numbers: 12 for 22 passing for two touchdowns and one interception to go along with 19 carries for 35 yards and an additional score.

To learn more about the signal caller, who spent part of his high school career playing for Joe Germaine at Queen Creek High School in Arizona, read on.

Get to know Ohio State quarterback Devin Brown

So, if you could snap your fingers and change anything about the world, what would it be?

End world hunger

Why is that a cause that weighs on your heart?

There should never be somebody who's starving or worried about food.

Summer or Winter Olympics: Which are more fun to watch?

Um, summer.

And which would you rather participate in?

Summer.

Ah, you're a warm-weather guy.

Yes, definitely, I am from Arizona, so yeah.

What is the difference between the places you've lived – Arizona, Utah and Ohio?

The mountains. Not having mountains is probably the weirdest thing for me. I mean, growing up, I always knew kind of where I was based on where the mountains were. But here there's nothing, just tall buildings, maybe. But that's about it.

MORE: Why does Devin Brown wear 33? Explaining Ohio State QB's uncommon jersey number

OK. Now, when you talk about using the mountains for navigation, is that when you're flying, because you're a pilot, aren't you?

I wouldn't totally consider myself a pilot. But I was training to be a pilot. I was one lesson away from soloing. My dad's had his license for 17 years now or whatever. And so we do it all the time. But if something goes wrong, I could definitely get in the plane and do something.

Why did you stop one class short? Because you had to head to campus?

Yeah. Football started and I just didn't have time to go back.

So do you have to start all over now?

Yeah, I probably would have to restart most of the lessons. ... But if I'm just flying with my dad, or if I'm flying with another pilot, I'd be fine.

What is your favorite class?

My favorite class? I'm a math guy. I feel like math is probably my favorite subject. So right now, probably statistics is my favorite class just because that's more math.

Math for me is very hard. Is it easy for you? Or do you like the challenge of it?

Both. I feel like math is a little bit easier for me because ... you have a problem, and you can solve it. It's not having to memorize that many things.

Besides flying What are your hobbies?

Definitely more of an outdoors person – fishing, going to the lake, cliff jumping. Anything kind of dangerous, you know, jumping off things, flipping and stuff like that. And then with the limited time we have here, you're in the Woody (Hayes Athletic Center) all day, probably just playing video games or something.

Dangerous hobbies? The coaches must love that.

Yeah, they tried to steer me away from those.

What is the most dangerous thing you've ever done – that you'll admit to?

I mean, I wouldn't say I've done anything too dangerous. Jumping off bridges or cliff jumping, maybe.

How high was this bridge you jumped off of?

It's not that high.

It's a bridge, Devin. You must not be afraid of heights?

I would actually say I am afraid of heights. Yeah, I definitely would say I'm afraid of heights, but I don't know. Just when there's water underneath me, I feel a little better.

What's the thing you're most afraid of?

Snakes.

You've described your dad as an adrenaline junkie before. Is that where you get that from?

Definitely. My dad grew up with seven brothers, so eight boys just always trying to do something crazy just kind of traveled down to me.

How's your mom handle all this?

She loves it. She's glad she has all boys as well. I'm one of four boys. So she's just kind of used to the chaos.

What does she do?

She works for my dad ... at the finance company and helps out there.

So they must get along if they're coworkers.

Yeah, you kind of have to, right?

You must not know my coworkers. Anyway, what is the best piece of advice your parents have ever given you?

I think the best piece of advice they've always given me is just to be myself. You know, being myself got me to be at Ohio State and be one of the top players in the country. So I think that's something very important, because sticking true to myself, that's gotten me to big places.

Is it hard to be yourself and be under the microscope as an Ohio State quarterback?

Yeah, yeah, always. I mean, your circle always has to keep getting tighter and tighter the more that you get into a spotlight. But that's just kind of how things are. You come to Ohio State for those things, to have all the eyes on you.

Who is your best friend?

I'd say probably Tristan Gebbia. He's a good guy. He's really helped me. He's an experienced, veteran guy. I've known him ever since I was a little kid, so it's kind of funny. Growing up, he always saw me as the younger guy, but now we're here, we're really close friends. We're always doing stuff, inside the Woody outside of the Woody, and we're just always with each other.

How did you know him when you were a little kid? I mean, he was probably 20 at the time.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's the kind of the joke around here: We always call him grandpa. We first met at a quarterback camp, when I was a young kid and he was, I believe, a senior in high school. Then we ended up training with the same quarterback coach back in Arizona. So that relationship just kind of kept building. And then, you know, we were trying to find another quarterback to come to Ohio State, and that just kind of ... worked out.

Is Tristan your roommate?

I live by myself. It's nice. I love my place. I have a two-bedroom place. So my parents, when they come into town for games, they stay with me.

Did you know Tristan has written a movie?

I did not know that. He wrote a movie?

Yeah, he wrote a movie about a piece of music and how it affects different people.

Wow, Tristan is a big movie guy. He's given me a list of movies to watch.

Have you watched any of them?

No. Well, I've watched a couple. He gives me crap every day because he's told me to watch the movie "Whiplash," and I still haven't watched it to this day.

What is your favorite movie?

Ha, that's hard. I don't think I can really narrow it down to one movie, but I like stupid comedy movies. I like really dumb movies, or I like movies like "American Sniper." Those are intriguing to me, but I'd say something along the lines of like "Benchwarmers," "Hot Rod," "Stepbrothers," those kinds of movies.

Who's the biggest star you've ever met, besides Ryan Day, of course.

I feel like he might be the biggest person I met. Yeah, I really don't know. I think that's probably it. I mean, Ryan Fitzpatrick, maybe? C.J. Stroud? I don't know.

How'd you meet Ryan Fitzpatrick?

He's actually an Arizona guy. He went to Highland High School with my uncles. So we'll run into him every once in a while.

You talked about having eight uncles. Was that...

Seven.

Oh, seven? That's right. There were eight boys, but your dad is one of them. Yeah. See, I told you I wasn't good at math. What is that, like?

It's amazing. It really is amazing. It's truly a blessing to have that big of a family, and the family grows every year. I've got over 50 cousins, and they all keep having kids, and my grandma loves it. And the cool thing is we all, they all live kind of in the same area. My whole family's been in Arizona for eight generations now, so everybody is always together for family reunions and Christmas parties and all that. So it's great.

I know you won't be able to spend Thanksgiving with the family, but how many turkeys is that?

Actually, they're going to come up here. My parents are gonna fly up here earlier in the week, and we'll have a Thanksgiving when I'm out of practice and everything.

Now when you say your family's gonna fly up here, does your dad fly them?

No, no, no. It's too far. Our little plane, that would be like driving a golf cart on the freeway. It's not too fast, but it gets us to the places we want to go.

And where do you like to go?

The place that we always love to go to is Mexico. Rocky Point is, like, one of the best places on earth. It's a three-hour drive from our house in Arizona, and you're right on the beach. You know, you got the dunes right behind you to go have fun and ride the ATVs all around. And then you also have the beach right there to chill and pools and the best Mexican food you could eat. So it's great.

What's the biggest fish you've caught? Every fisherman has a great story, right?

I really don't. Everybody sees the great fish down south, all those bass and everything like that, but I really haven't gotten like a crazy big fish. I'd say the biggest fish I've caught was that Lake Powell. We were fishing for striped bass. I don't know how big they were, maybe 3 feet, but they were pretty skinny. It wasn't anything crazy.

Is there something else you want the readers to know about you?

Everybody makes fun of me here because my favorite candies, Hot Tamales?

No no, no, no, no, that's not nearly as controversial as your take on spaghetti. I can't believe I forgot to ask about that. What are you doing?

It's so common, like, my whole family does it. Maybe it's more common out west. But do you put ranch on your pizza?

No, I do not. And definitely not on my spaghetti, like you do.

The best pizza is pepperoni and pineapple and dip it in ranch.

I'm done talking to you.

Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Get to know Ohio State football quarterback Devin Brown