Ohio State QB race is wide open for 2025, Ryan Day confirms

The race to replace Will Howard at the quarterback position is on, and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day says the competition is wide open heading into the 2025 football season.

Former Alabama five-star transfer Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz, and incoming five-star freshman Tavien St. Clair are at the top of the rotation for the Buckeyes.

“It’ll be a very fierce competition,” Day said in comments to WBNS in Columbus.

“Lincoln and Julian and then Tavien. We’re excited to see those guys compete. We’ll chart everything and everything will be a competition.” 

Day added: “I feel like we’re going to need everybody, but I feel like there will be a lot of growth coming out of the spring and an opportunity for these guys to take it and run. It’s one thing when you’re a backup. It’s another thing when you’re actually running it.”

Kienholz landed with the Buckeyes in 2023 and played in three games that season, including in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri after Devin Brown was injured.

Sayin joined the Ohio State quarterback room after transferring in from the Crimson Tide following head coach Nick Saban’s retirement.

St. Clair is the No. 4 overall recruit and No. 3 quarterback in the country, according to an average of the four national recruiting services’ rankings.

“I’ve shared with those guys, you got a chance to see a guy lead at a high level. This was the conversation leading up to the national championship game,” Day said.

“When the national championship’s over, that’s it. Will’s done. His time’s done here. Now you have to take it over.

“You have to walk different. You’ve got to move different. You have to practice different. Everything like that. This is an opportunity now for these guys to take it and run.”

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