Ohio State is coming off a National Championship last season, but they don’t expect a championship hangover. But if the Buckeyes are to make another deep playoff run in 2025, it’ll mean they receive good production from their new starting quarterback. However, OSU hasn’t named their QB1 yet, and they’re nearly a month away from the regular season
Ohio State had Will Howard at quarterback last season, a player who was integral in their championship run and put up elite numbers (4,010 passing yards,
35 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a 73 percent completion rate). Howard is now in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Ohio State will turn to either Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz.
The Buckeyes will be going from a player in Howard who started 44 collegiate games to either Sayin or Kienholz, who’ve both yet to start a college game. Sayin transferred from Alabama as an early enrollee after the retirement of Nick Saban in January of 2024 and committed to Ohio State two days later. Sayin is 5-of-12 in his career for 84 yards with one touchdown. Kienholz is entering his third season at Ohio State and is 5-of-10 for 111 yards.
New year, new slate
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While experience is always optimal at the quarterback position, these are the cards Ohio State has, and head coach Ryan Day spoke at Big Ten Media Day in Las Vegas about where the quarterback competition currently stands.
“We’re going to put them in as many competitive situations as we possibly can to figure out who handles that the best,” Day said on Tuesday. We’ve got to be on point week one. We can’t be messing around.”
Day gave positive thoughts on both Sayin and Kienholz, but didn’t show his hand as far as which player has a greater chance of starting.
“Julian certainly can get the ball out quickly. He’s had a great offseason. He’s intelligent,” Day said. “He’s very competitive, he’s got good athleticism, he’s accurate. Lincoln is just an incredible athlete. Pick a sport and he can do it.”
Day went on to say that it’ll be a “fierce competition” and he has been receiving good feedback from OSU receivers about Sayin and Kienholz and that “they like both of them”.
Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, arguably the best WR in the nation, spoke at Big Ten Media Day about Sayin and Kienholz and said, “both of them are great” and that they “have all the tools”. Smith also discussed what stands out the most about both players.
“Their leadership, the way they take command in the huddle,” Smith said. “Both kind of the same way to me. They’re both athletic, both can run.”
Day is acutely aware that Ohio State can’t be messing around at QB, in large part because of who their opponent is in Week 1 — the Texas Longhorns. The two elite programs squared off last season in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl, a 28-14 Ohio State victory in which they scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Day wants both Sayin and Kienholz to feel pressure between now and the regular season, believing that pressure will make them all the more prepared once the games start to count.
“As much (pressure) as possible. That pressure started a long while ago, by me for sure. That’s how you do it, and then you can build their confidence as you go. You gotta provide that pressure so they understand what comes with being the quarterback at Ohio State,” Day explained. “It’s our job to make practice harder than the game and put them in game situations and see how they respond.”
Day said that he never has a feel for when the time is to announce a starting quarterback, but noted that once the locker room believes in a quarterback, he considers it “the right time”.
“We’ll see where this goes. Everything that they do in July, in June, in May has led up to where we are right now, but they gotta go do it on the field,” Day said.
Despite Ohio State not having a clear-cut QB1 at the moment, the expectation is that they’ll be in the National Championship conversation come December and January. Per FanDuel Sportsbook, the Buckeyes are tied with Georgia for the second-best odds of winning the National Championship at +650.
