Ohio State will have a new starting quarterback in 2025.
Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair are all vying for the first-string signal caller job, but that competition has no end in sight.
In fact, quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler said Wednesday Ohio State is a "long way away" from even talking about how close the quarterback competition is.
Among a variety of other topics, Sayin and Kienholz both discussed how Will Howard's leadership from last year helped prepare them for a potentially bigger role this season, while St. Clair detailed how his transition from high school to college has gone.
You can see what Fessler and the three quarterbacks had to say after Wednesday's spring practice in the videos below.
Billy Fessler
“We're just a long way away from even talking about how close it is. Right now, those three guys are really just focused on getting better every single time they step in this building.”– Billy Fessler on how close Ohio State’s quarterback competition is
- On Julian Sayin’s lightning-quick release: “Julian definitely has a quick release, that's for sure. I think that it can definitely be an advantage in just the ability to get the ball to the receivers quickly. But at the same point, you can't sacrifice arm strength for a quick release. So we're continuing to work to build that arm strength, to strengthen his core, to work rotationally because he is such a rotational thrower.”
- Fessler said Tavien St. Clair’s experience working with the team last spring helped his development and understanding of Ohio State’s offense some, but he still has much to learn. “At the end of the day, he's still a guy that should be in high school. Does it help that he was around all spring, last spring, and in a bunch of meetings? Yeah, I think so. But at the end of the day, he's sitting there in those meetings, but he still has his own (high school) offense to go run in the following fall.”
- On how the quarterbacks can show they’re the toughest players on the team while being non-contact in practice: “By showing we're the hardest-working guys on the team. We can show that we are the mentally toughest guys on the team. We can make sure that we don't ever get too high or too low and we play with passion and emotion without letting that emotion and passion play with us and affect us.”
- On where he’s seen Lincoln Kienholz grow since last offseason: “Just a full year of understanding the offense, a full year of getting a feel for what we're trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish. And just the minute details about where my eyes need to be, how I can tie my feet in with my eyes, how I can make sure that I'm not just throwing the ball to the right receiver, because that's what my read dictates, but I'm also throwing it at the right time.”
Julian Sayin
“When you're at a big-time program like Ohio State, I think everyone's judged. Everything you do is important. How your locker looks is important. All the small details.”– ulian Sayin on being under a microscope at Ohio State
- On his offseason thus far: “It's been good. Just trying to get better every day. Coach Fessler's been doing a really good job with us and we're just improving on our fundamentals to get better in the scheme. So it's been good.”
- Sayin said former quarterback Will Howard set an excellent example of how to lead from the quarterback position last season. “Will was a really great leader for this team and it was fun to watch. He was someone who everyone kind of could relate to, and liked by everyone. I think if you went around the Woody and asked about Will Howard, everyone would have good things to say about him. So I think that's something that – I'm trying to take that approach.”
- Sayin said he’s gained roughly 10 pounds as he tries to bulk up for the punishment of a potential starting quarterback job. “That was a big emphasis in the winter, really just focusing on getting bigger and stronger.”
Lincoln Kienholz
“In the past years, I’ve had older guys in front of me. Getting to learn from them how to be a leader and take control of the huddle. Now, I’m the oldest guy in the room.”– Lincoln Kienholz on being Ohio State’s veteran signal caller
- Kienholz says his approach to spring is being someone his teammates can look up to when it comes time to make a play on 4th-and-2 and make a play when his number is called.
- Kienholz says he takes pride in his scrambling ability, making routine plays and how much strength he’s added over the past year. He says he went from 185 pounds to 212 pounds.
- The quarterback competition feels “wide open” per Kienholz and he strives every day to prove he’s the best quarterback in the nation.
- Kienholz says there’s always pressure when you play quarterback at Ohio State, but he embraces everything that comes with it because “pressure is a privilege.”
Tavien St. Clair
“I think I’m getting better every day. That’s the main focus, just trying to develop every single day, get better at everything that I can, be a better leader for the team, be a better teammate, be a better person outside of practice. That’s really been the main development.”– Tavien St. Clair on his focus this spring
- On the message the freshmen received from last year’s seniors when they arrived at Ohio State: “Really just gave us the real-to-real talk that we needed. A lot of them were like, it’s going to be hard. Ohio State is not for everybody. It’s not easy mentally or physically. But once you persevere through that and you push through it and you lean on your brothers next to you, you feel like you can accomplish anything and you’ll come out a better person because of it.”
- On what he learned from watching Will Howard during Ohio State’s national championship run: “The better leadership that you have for your team and the closer relationships that you have, the longer it’ll take you. With him, I saw just, nobody hated Will. Nobody disliked Will. Everybody loved Will. He was comfortable talking to anybody. And that’s something I’m going to carry with me, just trying to be familiar with everybody, know everybody, know everything about them.”
- St. Clair said taking his first snap with the offense during team drills on Monday was a moment where it sunk in that his dream of being a Buckeye has become reality.
