College football is nearly back. The 2025 Ohio State Buckeyes are embarking on a journey to defend the ninth national championship in program history with a shot to get number 10. There will be a new face leading the Buckeyes’ quarterback room this fall. Will Howard transferred in from Kansas State and led the Buckeyes to a title. Now, Ryan Day has to make a decision. Will he roll with the five-star redshirt freshman? Will the first Buckeye from South Dakota be next up? Could the true freshman make things interesting? The Buckeyes added to the room with Eli Brickhandler from Houston Christian, but he is not expected to push for much playing time.
What the Ohio State quarterbacks lack in experience, they make up for with all the hype and potential in the world. The Buckeyes have to replace over a dozen starters from last year, but all eyes will be on who opens camp taking snaps.
2025 Buckeye Breakdown: The Quarterbacks
The Favorite
As he did with every quarterback battle in his career, Day is keeping this year’s close to the vest. Heading into Spring workouts and even the Spring Game, it was reportedly neck-and-neck. After the Spring Game, the overwhelming feeling is that redshirt freshman Julian Sayin is going to be the next starting quarterback. Last year, he was the second man off the bench in mop-up duty and appeared in three regular-season games as well as the College Football Playoff game against Tennessee. In his 27 snaps, Sayin attempted all of 12 passes and completed five. With those five completions, Sayin totaled 84 yards and a touchdown.
Then, in the Spring Game, he stole the show. Sayin completed 17 of his 24 attempts for 175 yards and a touchdown. He had a handful of pinpoint-accurate passes and showed that his development is going according to plan, hence the hype leading into the fall.
Sayin was a five-star recruit and transferred to the Buckeyes shortly after Nick Saban retired. There were concerns about his size and arm strength. However, after the Spring Game, and how much the coaching staff and his teammates raved, those concerns have been exorcised. Jeremiah Smith recently gushed about him, saying, “That arm is different. He can make any and every throw. Just a smart quarterback. Like me, he’s a little quiet. But he’s starting to come out of (his) shell. He’s definitely going to be a guy. It’s going to be scary for opponents.”
This is a quarterback battle in name only. This is Sayin’s job to lose. He is the most accurate passer Day has coached at Ohio State, and, considering he had C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields, that’s saying something. He doesn’t have to be a Heisman-worthy player for Ohio State to succeed. However, if the reports are to be taken at face value, he may make at least one trip to New York City for the ceremony in his career.
The Underdog
Lincoln Kienholz has been working to make Day’s decision as hard as possible. Up until the Spring Game, it seemed like he was doing just that. In the court of public opinion, Kienholz has been skiing uphill. Everyone wants to just crown the next big thing, and unfortunately for the redshirt sophomore from South Dakota, Sayin is a shinier toy. This is a battle for a reason. Keinholz is bigger (six-foot-three, 207 pounds vs. Sayin’s six-foot-one, 203 pounds) and has a little more shake to him athletically.
Either way, Kienholz has one more year in the Day system. Of course, this year marks the third different person calling offensive plays, with Brian Hartline taking over. The redshirt sophomore’s call to fame to this point is his unfortunate performance in the Cotton Bowl after the 2023 season. He had to come off the bench due to injury and struggled to 86 yards, while completing just 35.3% of his passes.
Last year, he was the third man off the bench behind Sayin and only logged eight snaps in two games (including the Tennessee game). Day said that Kienholz was a tad ahead of Sayin heading into the Spring Game. Then, he struggled, thus losing that narrow lead.
Kienholz, if called upon, can lead the offense. However, it looks like his ceiling is not quite as high as Sayin’s. Honestly, it’s a little surprising that he’s still at Ohio State, no matter how many “I’m locked in” type of posts he drops.
Day is going to give him a fair shake this fall. Last year, Will Howard went into fall camp in a close battle with Devin Brown and ultimately leaped ahead and won the battle. Kineholz has his work cut out for him, but with one more year under his belt than Sayin, he could leapfrog the talented redshirt freshman. It’s unlikely, but it’s always possible the South Dakotan is the Buckeyes’ quarterback.
More: Ranking the Ohio State Alternate Unis Over The Years
The Future
At the bottom of the depth chart, true freshman and home-grown product Tavien St. Clair will use 2025 to develop. Day has repeatedly said that this is a two-horse race with St. Clair bringing up the rear. However, he may have a higher ceiling when it’s all said and done.
St. Clair joined the team this winter and even traveled to each CFP game and practiced with the Buckeyes as they went through the postseason. He’s already steeped in the offense. Of course, as a true freshman, there is plenty of growing to do.
The six-foot-four former five-star recruit is considered to be the future. He was the third quarterback to hit the field in the Spring Game and showed just how good he could be. Despite the two interceptions, St. Clair responded. He delivered on his passes with a zip that raised eyebrows. He also threw a few tight-window passes a freshman wouldn’t usually be able to do.
2025 is likely going to be a redshirt season for St. Clair, assuming he doesn’t earn playing time in more than four one-sided beatdowns. Since Sayin has two years of eligibility remaining, St. Clair has little pressure on his shoulders until 2027 (unless, of course, he’s good enough to push for the job in 2026). The future of the starting Buckeye quarterbacks is in good hands.
Main Photo: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
