Ohio State’s starting quarterback competition is unlikely to be decided this spring.
Ryan Day hasn’t shut the door completely on the possibility of naming a starting quarterback before preseason camp. But with just three practices remaining this spring and Friday’s practice being a lighter practice ahead of Saturday’s spring game, either Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz would need to have an excellent week to win the job outright.
“Maybe one of these guys jumps out ahead this week and really makes some separation, which if they do, then they do. But we'll see. We'll kind of see where it goes,” Day said Monday. “Somebody would have to make a significant move here on Tuesday and/or Saturday to really make that move to jump ahead.”
A quarterback competition continuing into preseason camp is nothing new for Ohio State. Since Day became Ohio State’s head coach in 2019, he’s never named a starting quarterback before preseason camp when he hasn’t had a returning starter. So it would have come as a surprise if Day had moved to name a starting quarterback this spring, especially considering OSU can’t afford to lose any of its three scholarship quarterbacks to the transfer portal.
That said, this year’s quarterback competition appears to be one of the closest competitions that’s unfolded at OSU under Day’s watch. While Day waited until August to formally name Justin Fields the starter in 2019 and C.J. Stroud the starter in 2021, they were both clear frontrunners to win the job from the beginning. Even last year, when Will Howard left the door open for Devin Brown with some struggles during the spring, there was always an expectation that the experienced Kansas State transfer would ultimately emerge as the Buckeyes’ starter. The competition between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown in 2023 was so close that it continued into the start of the season, but otherwise, all of Day’s previous quarterback competitions have been decided well before the first game.
This year’s starting quarterback competition has largely been viewed through a similar prism to those won by Fields, Stroud and Howard because of the hype that’s surrounded Sayin, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class. But Kienholz has been splitting first-team reps with Sayin all spring, has the advantage of an additional year of experience practicing at Ohio State and outperformed Sayin during Saturday’s Student Appreciation Day scrimmage that was open to students and media.
Day emphasized Monday that Student Appreciation Day was just one practice out of 15 practices this spring and said all three of Ohio State’s quarterbacks, also including true freshman Tavien St. Clair, have had good days and bad days. St. Clair currently sits third in the pecking order at quarterback because he’s still learning the ropes in his first spring at Ohio State, but Day said the battle between Kienholz and Sayin remains too close to call.
“I think it's fair to say that Tavien has probably the longest way to go just because of just the lack of experience,” Day said. “The talent and his ability to run, his athleticism, the arm, he has all those things. He just needs to play more. He needs to see it more. The game's just moving really fast for him right now. But he's picking it up, he's getting it every day. So I'd say he probably has the farthest way to go. And then Lincoln and Julian are pretty much neck-and-neck right now.”
While it’s probably still accurate to call Sayin the likely starting quarterback for Ohio State this season with the passing upside he’s shown since high school, Day said Kienholz is a real contender for the job right now.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Day said when asked if Kienholz is in the thick of the competition. “You saw his potential on some of the throws that he made (on Student Appreciation Day). You saw his athleticism show.”
Perhaps the strongest sign that the quarterback competition remains a real one right now was Day’s decision to make the quarterbacks live – meaning they could be tackled – for part of the Student Appreciation Day scrimmage. While that won’t be the case for the spring game as Ohio State looks to protect the quarterbacks from injuries, Day felt like they needed to take some reps against a live pass-rush this spring given their collective lack of playing experience at the collegiate level.
While that decision was made by Day, offensive coordinator Brian Hartline endorsed that decision because he views it as an important element of the competition.
“If you're never fully live, I don't think you fully give guys the opportunity to be who they want to be or be who they can be,” Hartline said. “The guys handled it well. It was good for all parties involved. And the more we can do that, the better. But I'm sure that is coming to a close here very quickly.”
Due to their lack of experience, Day said all three quarterbacks are “still kind of in that growth phase and learning phase.” But even though he likely won’t name a starter after Saturday’s spring game, he’s confident he’ll come out of spring feeling good about what the Buckeyes have at quarterback.
“We'll feel good. (Maybe) we'll feel great. I don't know. We'll have to see how Tuesday and Saturday goes. But I think we'll definitely feel good coming out of there,” Day said. “We have good players. And I think the guys believe that they can do it. It's just it's a growing process.”
