Ohio State’s QB battle has been going on for some time now, and it has brought out everything from both Lincoln Kienholz and Julian Sayin. From Sayin being touted to be the starter by the majority of analysts to Lincoln Kienholz refusing to give up, as fall camp presents a golden opportunity to grab that QB1 spot. It’s been truly an intense QB battle for 6 months. But the competition can’t go on forever, and Ryan Day needs to declare his starter within 10 days as pressure looms large from every direction.
QB battles going well into August haven’t been an anomaly for Ohio State, and we have seen it happening several times with Ryan Day. For context, last year, Day named Will Howard the starter midway through August in a press conference, just 16 days before the Week 1 game. Even in 2021, C.J Stroud was named the starter on August 21st, with not more than a week left before the first game. This year, too, Ryan Day is following the same blueprint.
The OSU head coach appeared yesterday on the Big Ten Network for an interview and cleared the air regarding the timeline of declaring the QB1. “I’d like to see them continue to compete throughout this week, maybe into next week. But you’d like to have an idea of who that guy’s going to be for at least a couple of weeks heading into the first game,” said Ryan Day. Incidentally, Day is also hosting a press conference on August 18th, and that means just 10 days for Julian Sayin to prove his worth.
The task on hand for Ryan Day in picking from Julian Sayin is much tougher than one can contemplate. Why? Lincoln Kienholz wasn’t the favorite to be the starter initially in February. But with time, the QB developed himself massively, gained a whopping 33 pounds, and showed incredible talent in the spring practices. Even Ryan Day acknowledged Kienholz’s unprecedented progress.
Leadership, poise under pressure, and the ability to overcome adversity are tough to prove before the season — all boxes Will Howard checked. But I don’t see Julian Sayin leaving plays like this on the field. A ball placement specialist with the weapons he has? Scary. pic.twitter.com/hwV07RZBtn
— Joe (@SportsFanJoey_) August 1, 2025
“There were times this spring that he felt Kienholz was a little bit ahead of Julian,” said Ryan Day after the spring games. As for Julian Sayin, we saw him throwing an interception under pressure in that spring game, and that raised some doubts about his full development. Despite that, Saying did have a good showing in the second half, completing 17/24 passes for 175 yards. However, when you have another QB hell bent on proving himself, there’s bound to be some selection dilemma on any head coach’s part.
Lincoln Kienholz’s determination leaves Ryan Day in a huge dilemma
Both Sayin and Kienholz have incredible talent in their own right, but Sayin’s natural flair and arm talent give him an edge. Moreover, it’s also tempting to pick a 5-star recruit, who was the No. 1 recruit of the 2024 class. On the contrary, Kienholz was a multisport athlete playing baseball, football, and basketball, coming in as a 4-star recruit with some unrefined football skills. But now? Kienholz has progressed a lot and is confident of sealing that QB1 spot.
“I think it just shows that I put in some work in the offseason. I mean, in the weight room, also on the field. Just go out there and be my best, and I mean, just hopefully prove to my teammates that my leadership’s there as well. I mean, I feel way different, I’ve been in the offense for three years now, so it’s something that I think just more time, more reps, and film study, it’s helped me get better,” said Kienholz. However, not everyone is happy with the QB battle for Ryan Day.
Wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are worried about not building up chemistry with one QB and call it high time to select a starting QB. “It’s just hard to get a drive rolling when you’ve got the constant quarterback switching. It’s been proven that whenever there are two quarterbacks, it’s hard to get the offense rolling,” said Tate in a recent interview recently and Jeremiah Smith agreed with him. We have seen previous battles, like the one with McCord and Devin Brown, going on within the season, with McCord being named the starter after two games in the season. Could we see something like that too, this year with Sayin and Kienholz, if the latter continues to impress?
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