Ohio State QB Devin Brown on recovery from pinky fracture: 'I don’t feel I lost anything'

Devin Brown remembers the feeling from the throw.
It was in May, a moment that came four weeks after he had undergone surgery to repair a broken pinky finger on his right throwing hand.
As he took the next step in his recovery following a procedure that had sidelined him for the last week of spring practice at Ohio State, he attempted a pass.
“It was just awkward at first,” Brown said, “but then it was good.”
April 15, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA;
Quarterback Devin Brown leaves the field following the Ohio State spring football game Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Mandatory Credit: Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch
The discomfort faded over the following week as he shook off rust that stemmed from the period of rest.
“I just hadn’t done it,” he said. “That was the longest time I hadn’t thrown a football.”
His right pinky has healed and no longer seems like a limitation for Brown, who is to continue competing with junior Kyle McCord to be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback when preseason training camp opens on Thursday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
But the injury represented a hurdle for the redshirt freshman to overcome amid the high-profile position battle to succeed C.J. Stroud.
“It was his first bump in the road,” said Tristan Gebbia, a seventh-year senior quarterback who transferred from Oregon State in January, “and he responded to it really well.”
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Brown maintained a sense of optimism from the onset, and his reaction to the setback even caught his father off guard when he initially relayed the diagnosis to him.
“We were sitting in the hospital,” Brown said, “I called my dad, and I told him I broke my finger and I’m going to need surgery. His first reaction was, ‘Why aren’t you upset?’ ”
He remained self-assured as they spoke, believing his absence from the final week of spring practice, including the spring game, would not prove to be a significant blow.
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Mar 9, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Devin Brown (33) throws during spring football practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch
“I was like, ‘At the end of the day, I’m going to miss one week,' ” Brown said. “ 'I’m going to grow from this and this isn’t going to be anything. I’m going to be right back out there. This wasn’t a step in the road at all. If anything, it was a step up.’ That was my mindset through the whole thing, that this is really going to help me.”
The initial stages of his rehabilitation involved working with the program’s athletic trainers.
“Just with them every day,” Brown said, “just trying to get everything right, just getting my movement back and everything.”
It was largely a period of rest, allowing his pinky to heal and regain movement. For the first two weeks after the procedure, Brown was kept from gripping a football.
“As soon as I had all my movement back, it was just getting everything going again,” Brown said, “making sure my fingers weren’t stiff or anything and to throw a football again. That was the end goal.”
Two weeks into the Buckeyes’ summer strength and conditioning program, Brown said he was fully cleared to return to activities, having only missed a handful of weightlifting routines.
It was about a week earlier than the timeline that had been initially set for his recovery.
“I was good to do everything,” Brown said, “and I don’t feel like I lost anything.”