Ohio State’s $1.1 Million QB Predicted to Be Named Starter Over Highly Touted Star
With Will Howard headed to the NFL draft, the Ohio State Buckeyes have a giant hole to fill at quarterback. The good news is the Buckeyes have plenty of promising players competing to be the next QB1. Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Julian Sayin has generated the most offseason buzz given his familiarity with the offense as well as his previous five-star recruiting status. Lincoln Kienholz also returns for another season with the Buckeyes. The biggest wild card in the quarterback competition is incoming freshman Tavien St. Clair. The five-star signal-caller has the talent to compete with Sayin as St. Clair was Rivals.com’s No. 1 rated quarterback and No. 2 ranked overall player in the 2025 class. Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon offered predictions for the top college football quarterback battles and has Sayin getting the nod as the new starter over the field in Columbus, Ohio. Ryan Day on Ohio State’s QB battle between Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair:
“They’re young. We need them to be tough. We need them to be a leader,” he said. “Long way to go on it. Don’t have any evaluation on it now. Gonna be a big spring for those guys.”
“Early expectation? Sayin,” Kenyon wrote on Feb. 21. “Simultaneously, that educated guess is based solely on Sayin throwing 12 passes in 2024, whereas Kienholz had 22 attempts two years ago.
“Head coach Ryan Day insists OSU has an open competition this spring with those two QBs and St. Clair,” Kenyon added. “The answer can’t actually be clear here in mid-February but certainly may be during the next couple months.”
On3.com projects Sayin’s NIL value to be $1.1 million, a number that is likely to grow if the star lands the starting gig at Ohio State.
Ohio State football ranked No. 1 in Big Ten early-spring rankings
Ohio State is coming off a national championship season, during which the Buckeyes asserted their dominance late in the year by dismantling the Tennessee Volunteers and Oregon Ducks, crushing the hopes of the Texas Longhorns, and squashing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the third season in a row.
Although the season was not always perfect, as Ohio State finished fourth in the Big Ten even though they were responsible for the only losses the top three teams in the conference had all year. But that’s what happens when you face tough competition
With the nation’s highest 15 players sent to the NFL Combine, many expect a regression out of Ohio State. But that’s not how Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan sees it. He has Ohio State at the top of his spring 2025 power rankings. Right behind them, he has Penn State at No. 2 and the reigning Big Ten champion Oregon at No. 3. Here is everything he had to say about the Buckeyes:
