Ryan Day led the Ohio State Buckeyes to its natty in the playoff era. This was a season where Ohio State steamrolled opponents like playing in their backyard. But, now the season is over. A new perspective should be found and the momentum should be used to pull further in the next season. One of those places could have been the quarterback room since Will Howard departs after a stellar season (4,010 passing yards and 35 touchdowns). And a position that could have been promising is a topic of much speculation.
Well, we all know there are three main quarterbacks in Ryan Day’s camp. Julian Sayin, Tavien St. Clair, and Lincoln Kienholz. These three players are good in their own right and could offer wide depth in the QB department. But, still, they have their own problems, those being the race to become the QB1. And it seems one of these three QBs is set to face a harsh reality.
Analysts, journalists, and fans have widely touted Julian Sayin to take up that QB1 spot after the departure of Will Howard. And this time, another Ohio State Insider, Buckeyes Scoop, has delivered his verdict regarding his choice of quarterback. “Obviously, Lincoln is a guy that has talent. I mean, again, there’s a lot of people that think he has talent, but this is going to be, I mean, I would be shocked if Julian’s not the guy.“
The battle for the QB1 spot for hopeful Julian Sayin is getting harder as the competition is turning neck to neck with every passing second. Analysts are recognizing the talent of his contenders for the coveted starting QB spot. But Sayin does have the kind of ability that may favor him. As in his high school, the athlete was the most valuable player in the Elite 11. Furthermore, his high school stats are off the charts as he completed his last year at 76% pass completion rate for 2,347 yards, scoring 24 touchdowns. His rushing prowess was also quite adept as he garnered 605 rushing yards throughout his high school career, scoring nine touchdowns. This made Sayin the ESPN’s top dual-threat QB in the western region. But BuckeyesScoop highlighted a problem.
He was talking about how the recent promotion of Brian Hartline as OC could mean disaster for Ohio State. “Brian Hartline, who is fully committed to coaching the wide receivers, and he’s said repeatedly that nothing will change in the wide receiver room in terms of his coaching… How does he handle running that room and coordinating the offense? Because again I think that that’s going to be interesting… I think it is somewhat uncommon to have a wide receivers coach as the offensive coordinator.“
Well, for context, Hartline was the wide receivers coach at Ohio State after he stepped away from the offensive coordinator spot two years ago. But after Chip Kelly departed for the Las Vegas Raiders, Ryan Day looked up to Hartline for his play-calling duties. It will definitely be tough to manage a wide receiver room that will have players like Jeremiah Smith, Mylan Graham, and Jayden Ballard. In total, they have 15 players in their receiver room for the 2025 season. So yes, managing both play calling and WRs will be a tough ask.
Transfer Portal threat looms on Ryan Day’s head?
Well, the battle between the OSU QBs seems to have taken a darker turn as all QBs are hellbent on proving their mantle. However, Lincoln Kienholz will be a player who will need assurances from Ryan Day because he has waited too long. He was 4th quarterback last year and initially served as a third-string quarterback. Surely, he wouldn’t want another season to spend on the sidelines, as QB2 will be at least the position he would have in his mind. But what if that doesn’t happen?
Fox Sports analyst RJ Young advised Kienholz to seek the help of a transfer portal if things don’t go as planned. “Dude, you could probably go torch someone if you just went to Tulane, Tulsa, or Boise State, for that matter, right? You keep going down the line on the Sacramento State with Brennan Marion (their head coach). There are places for him to go to show out”
Well, that’s a genuine concern, and previously, it has been suggested for him to seek pastures anew if not given his desired spot. And it’s not like the player doesn’t merit the playing time, as he was USA Today’s national athlete of the year in 2023. Ryan Day, though, hasn’t quite opened up on the battle of the QBs and only has said, “Don’t have any evaluation on it now. Gonna be a big spring for those guys”. So, right now, it looks like the spot is up for grabs. But, it seems after spring one of the three would surely be seeking pastures anew.
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