Welcome to the Skull Session.
Denzel Ward is called The Warden for a reason. He locks his opponents up.
Denzel Ward in single coverage in 2024:
— PFF (@PFF) February 16, 2025
91.3 PFF grade (1st)
15 forced incompletions (1st) pic.twitter.com/IpCgzOTAft
Have a good Tuesday.
A “WIDE OPEN” COMPETITION. This spring, third-year Lincoln Kienholz, second-year Julian Sayin and first-year Tavien St. Clair will compete to become Ohio State’s next quarterback. According to Ryan Day, their competition will be “fierce” as the spot remains “wide open.”
“It’ll be a fierce competition,” Day told Dom Tiberi of 10TV last week. “Lincoln and Julian and then Tavien. We’re excited to see those guys compete. We’ll chart everything, and everything will be a competition. I feel like we’re going to need everybody, but I feel like there will be a lot of growth coming out of the spring and an opportunity for these guys to take it and run. It’s one thing when you’re a backup. It’s another thing when you’re actually running it.
“I’ve shared with those guys – especially with Lincoln and Julian, who were here last year – you got a chance to see (Will Howard) lead at a high level. This was the conversation leading up to the national championship game. When the national championship is over, that’s it. Will is done. His time is done here. Now, you have to take it over. You have to walk different. You have to move different. You have to practice different. Everything like that. This is an opportunity now for these guys to take it and run.”
As I transcribed that quote, I realized that I am a little tired of quarterback competitions at Ohio State. Since Day took over as head coach in 2018, there have been battles between Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow (2018); Justin Fields and Matthew Baldwin (2019); C.J. Stroud and Kyle McCord (2021); McCord and Devin Brown (2023); and Howard and Brown (2024).
Each of those battles had different degrees of seriousness. For example, Haskins and Burrow? Serious. Fields and Baldwin? Unserious.
You understand.
I don’t know how serious or unserious Ohio State’s competition will be this offseason. Since no quarterback has considerable on-field experience, I think it will be the former. Regardless, I don’t know if I want to spend another six-and-a-half months discussing whether Kineholz, Sayin or St. Clair will become QB1. As I see it – and I think we all see it – Sayin is the frontrunner, and it’s his competition to lose. Given his five-star pedigree and his Nick Saban seal of approval, he better not lose it.
NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! Before the Rose Bowl Game, Lincoln Kienholz told Eleven Warriors he was undecided on whether he’d enter the transfer portal after Ohio State’s College Football Playoff run but “would love to stay here.” Kienholz remained true to his word, and this offseason, he will compete with Sayin and St. Clair to become Ohio State’s next quarterback.
Kienholz intends to win that competition. (Duh.)
In an interview with Bucknuts, Kienholz said his experience provides him with an edge over Sayin and St. Clair.
“I’m the oldest guy in the room,” he said. “It’s weird because, I mean, I’ve been here the past few years with guys who are seniors and super seniors. It’s been different.”
Kienholz believes he has the talent to be Ohio State’s quarterback. Given his background as an All-American football, basketball and baseball star in South Dakota, there’s no doubt he’s an elite athlete. Still, it’s whether he can combine that athleticism with consistent on-field performance that will make or break his offseason with the Buckeyes.
“I get to go against the best defense every single day. I think that helps,” Kienholz said. “There’s multiple days where I do pretty well, but then there’s also times where, I mean, there’s things I need to work on.”
In other words, he’s Ronnie Bass, also known as Sunshineeeee. He can throw the ball a mile, but he can’t pitch it 12 feet. Of course, chances are Kienholz’s issues don’t include pitching a football, but I think the comparison still works. Kienholz does a lot well, but if he can’t take care of the small stuff, Sayin and St. Clair could leave him looking for a new home this summer.
Whether or not Kienholz remains in Columbus or searches for his next destination could reveal how much he improved in March and April.
“THAT’S REALLY WHAT I WANTED.” When Denzel Burke returned for his fourth season at Ohio State, he wanted to help the Buckeyes win a national title. In an appearance on the Bleav in Buckeyes podcast with Bryant Browning and Chimdi Chekwa, Burke said he is thankful to have accomplished that feat before leaving Columbus for the NFL.
“I ain’t have no hardware. I ain’t have nothing,” Burke said of his decision to come back for another year. “I definitely had that chance to take the next step in my life and go to the NFL and prepare myself for the draft. But for me, man, it was more than that. I wanted to create a legacy, especially for my family, especially for my son. When he grows up, I want him to be able to see, like, ‘Yeah, son, I got a natty. I got (a ring) on my finger. Me and my brothers made a decision to come back and put all the chips in.’ That’s really what I wanted in my heart. There was a lot of prayer involved.
“I knew I would be a high draft pick, but at the end of the day, it’s cool. I wanted to continue to develop into an elite corner, and that’s what I did. I felt like I matured a lot. Everything happened how I needed it to happen. We left out natty champs. That’s what we wanted to do, and that’s what we did. All the guys, we were texting each other (last January) and everyone wanted to leave and do their things, but we wanted to do this for our coach and for the state of Ohio, man, and for the guys before us, too, especially by beating ‘The Team Up North’ – that’s tough – but we ended up being natty champs.”
When asked to share what Day means to him, Burke smiled.
“Coach Day means a lot to me, man,” Burke said. “We’ve had a lot of vulnerable conversations. We’ve had a lot of one-on-ones. He’s a player's coach. I feel like I saw a different side of him this year. I wanted to be able to – we wanted to be able to get some hardware for him, too, because all the stuff he’s been through, you know, these fans, man, they crazy. … We love him, man. I love him. He recruited me and gave me my first offer. He came out all the way to Arizona to give me an offer, so it goes all the way back to then, man. It took us four years, but we got the job done. We got a ring now. Now, we’re legends forever.”
Legends never die.
The Sandlot taught me that.
“THEY COULD HAVE SOME INTEREST.” Could we see a Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson reunion in New York? Jeremy Fowler of ESPN thinks so. On Monday’s SportsCenter, Fowler called the Jets a “sleeper option” for Fields in free agency.
“They could have some interest. They like the idea of a dual-threat quarterback,” Fowler said. “He’s younger. I’m told Fields has looked at that roster and sees some intrigue there, too. They have some good young pieces like Garrett Wilson and a good defense.”
Um, yes.
Can the Jets acquire Chris Olave while they’re at it?
In two seasons at Ohio State, Fields and Wilson connected for 113 receptions, 1,781 yards and 18 touchdowns in 22 games. I’d love to see what the quarterback-wide receiver duo could accomplish in an offense that also features running back Breece Hall — and, oh! — tight end Jeremy Ruckert, another former Ohio State teammate of Fields and Wilson in Columbus!
Bring Fields to the Big Apple, NYJ!
SONG OF THE DAY. "Forever" - Ben Rector.
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