Ohio State HC Ryan Day Updates QB Situation Before Opener vs. Texas Longhorns

The college football season is approaching, and one of the most highly-anticipated opening weekend games will kick off Aug. 30 in Columbus when the Texas Longhorns visit the Ohio State Buckeyes in a contest where both teams will feature new starters at quarterback.

For the Longhorns, Arch Manning will make his long-awaited debut as the season starter for Steve Sarkisian's team. Manning has just two starts in his two years at Texas after sitting behind Quinn Ewers patiently awaiting his turn to lead the burnt orange as the starter.

For Ohio State, they got one season of Will Howard, who led the Buckeyes to a national championship, and now look to find their quarterback of the future. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day gave an update on the ensuing quarterback battle at Big Ten Media Days, sharing insight on whose job it might be after fall camp.

Ohio State's Ongoing QB Battle

When the Longhorns travel to Columbus to take on the defending national champions, all eyes around the country will be on the two teams, as Manning enters his first true season as the starter. The Longhorns are projected favorites to win the national championship, and the Buckeyes look to make it two in a row, but they still don't know who their signal caller for that game will be yet.

Day was asked if the race was still neck and neck between junior Lincoln Kienholz and redshirt freshman Julian Sayin, and admitted that things are still pretty much the same.

“Same, because it’s hard to make any progress unless you’re actually on the field playing football, but I think both guys have gotten stronger," Day said. "It will be interesting to see once we get done with our summer program with (strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti) next week, you know, who our “Gold” and who’s “Iron” Buckeyes. That will be big for the leadership, but guys have taken leadership roles."

Day would continue, calling it a fierce competition between the two. He also shared how both players have been developing this offseason.

“They’ve been throwing with the wide receivers. I ask those guys all the time, and they like both of them. We’re going to put them in as many competitive situations as we possibly can to figure out who handles that the best. We’ve got to be on point week one. We can’t be messing around. I know that we’ll need all of those guys in that room this year."

Despite the Longhorns' advantage of knowing who their quarterback will be in week one, they will still have to prepare two game plans for the Buckeyes, unsure of which player will be at the helm in Columbus. Pair that unknown with first-year offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, and the Longhorns will have their work cut out for them in week one preparation.

The Longhorns and Buckeyes will play on FOX at 11 a.m. C.T. on Aug. 30.