‘Don’t Have Any Evaluation’ - Ohio State QB battle heating up as HC Ryan Day gives insight into spring rotation
Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day has made clear that he has not yet decided who will be the starting quarterback of his team next season. While at a press conference earlier in the week, Day outlined how his QB room of Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair was very young and inexperienced, but would all get a chance to win the starting role.
2024 campaign starting quarterback Will Howard is widely expected to be taken in the 2025 NFL draft this April. Hence, the starting QB job is wide open for one of these young, inexperienced quarterbacks.
What did Ryan Day say about his quarterback situation?
Day made clear that he wanted one of Sayin, Kienholz, or St. Clair to step up and take the starting role. The video in full was uploaded to the 'Eleven Warriors' YouTube channel.
"They're young and they're going to have to compete and you know, we need a quarterback to be tough, we need him to be a leader. I've said this before, they've had a great opportunity to watch Will."
Day was then asked what the breakdown of first-team reps would be for each quarterback heading into spring practices.
"Early on, we're going to try to roll. We're going to try to go three groups, so those guys get equal amount of reps. We'll split up who goes where and even last year with Will, I mean, we did that... We're going to try to get the best evaluation we can, we'll evaluate everything."
Who will start at quarterback for Ohio State next year?
As evident from Day's recent comments, it is unclear who will start for the Buckeyes next season. All three of the individuals highlighted are inexperienced and have not played much meaningful college football during their careers.
Last season, Sayin completed five of his 12 pass attempts for 84 passing yards and one touchdown. Meanwhile, Kienholz did not play a game last year for the Buckeyes, with his most recent regular season work coming in the 2023 campaign. That season, he completed 10 of his 22 pass attempts for 111 passing yards and no touchdowns.
Finally, St. Clair committed to the Buckeyes program next season after finishing his high school career at Bellefontaine High School. He was ranked as the No. 10 overall prospect in the 2025 ESPN 300 Recruiting Database and had offers from other college football powerhouse schools such as the Tennessee Volunteers, Florida Gators and Alabama Crimson Tide.