The next quarterback at Ohio State is going to have a ton of pressure on his shoulders. That’s always the case at OSU, of course, when you consider the talented quarterbacks who have come through Columbus in the past.
The thing is, the last guy, Will Howard, led the Buckeyes to a College Football Playoff National Championship win. OSU’s run through the inaugural 12-team CFP was legendary, and Howard was a big part of that as a super senior who transferred in from Kansas State to chase that very title.
Mission accomplished for Howard and the Buckeyes, but now spring ball has sprung, which means those left in Columbus and head coach Ryan Day are tasked with trying to do it again.
They’ll be doing it with a new quarterback this time around, and whomever Day goes with is going to have significantly less experience than Howard did when he took his first snaps under center for the Buckeyes.
As mentioned, whoever it will be is going to have a ton of pressure on their shoulders. There is one way to alleviate that pressure, though, and that’s to be in lock-step with the head coach and his program. From Day’s perspective, that means being prepared as a quarterback.
Preparedness, and being the hardest worker on the team, are two of the main qualifications Day is looking for.
“There’s so much that comes with winning the job. And as you guys know, the quarterback position, there’s just so much that goes with it,” Day told the media on Monday, according to Steve Helwagen of Bucknuts. “So to me, it’s the process of understanding how to get better and then continually working. And when you make a mistake, you learn from that mistake and you grow quickly. And a lot of it has to do with their preparation.”
Day explained that if a quarterback walks into a huddle and he’s not prepared, it can be painfully obvious. He’s not just talking about physical preparation, either. It comes down to footwork, technique, scheme and theory. Oh, and there’s that resilience it takes to bounce back when things go wrong, because you are the de facto leader of the team, after all.
Ultimately, it comes down to work ethic and being able to put all of those things together on a consistent basis.
“The number one job though for the quarterback is be the hardest working guy in the building. There shouldn’t be any question. Like if someone says who’s the hardest working guy, it should be the quarterback,” Day said. “If it’s somebody else, like that’s a problem because they should be the first one in the building and the last one to leave.”
If those seem like high expectations, it’s because they are. That’s what it takes to make it at OSU, or any other big-time college football program, though.
As far as who is in the running, redshirt freshman Julian Sayin is getting a ton of buzz but redshirt sophomore Lincoln Kienholz did get some experience last season as a backup. And then there’s incoming 5-star freshman Tavien St. Clair, who is going to be exciting. He was ranked as the No. 3 quarterback in the 2025 class and the No. 4 recruit overall, according to 247Sports.
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