Ohio State's Ryan Day Discloses More Compelling News on QB Battle

The Ohio State Buckeyes must find a new solution under center in the coming months, as Will Howard is now playing quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ohio State went into the offseason likely assuming that Julian Sayin would be the starting quarterback in 2025, but some rather significant bumps along the way in spring practice changed things, so much so that Lincoln Kienholz now appears to have a legitimate chance of winning the job.

As a matter of fact, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day has revealed that Kienholz was actually ahead in the competition until Sayin put forth a great performance in the team's spring game.

“I felt like Lincoln, going into the spring game, was a little bit ahead of Julian. And then I thought, if you just watch the game, Julian probably performed a little bit better than Lincoln during the spring game. And here we are,” Day told reporters this week. “So going back through, watch the spring practices, look at the grades, they're very similar. So we'll take it into the summer. And we'll let them play.”

The fact that the quarterback race is so close is relatively surprising considering how highly Sayin was touted upon being recruited by Ohio State.

A five-star prospect, Sayin even drew some early Heisman Trophy buzz earlier this offseason, and that came after the 19-year-old threw just 12 passes in 2024.

That being said, there is obviously no doubt that Kienholz has a bit more learning experience under his belt, which has made the process a bit more challenging for Day in terms of finding an answer.

Chances are, Sayin will probably still come out on top, but we will obviously need to monitor the Buckeyes' quarterback situation for the remainder of this spring and summer.