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Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day announced that Julian Sayin is officially the starting quarterback to begin the 2025-26 season. It was a tough battle throughout the offseason, but Sayin beats out Lincoln Keinholz for the role. With Week 1 on the horizon, Keinholz's mindset after losing the job reveals he's remaining positive moving forward.
Day revealed that the 19-year-old quarterback is continuing to prepare as if he is the starting quarterback, according to Patrick Murphy of 247 Sports. Overall, it sounds like the Ohio State head coach is pleased with Keinholz's reaction to not winning the starting job, and doesn't completely close the door on the idea of Keinholz playing this season.
“He was great in the meeting that we talked about,” Day said. “He knows in his heart he's going to play this year. And so he's going to prepare to play in the first game, and we know it's a long season. He's a competitor. I'm sure he wants to play in the first game, but I wouldn't say he's discouraged. I thought he had a good practice out here today. He had good energy. The team knows that we're going to need him, and he knows. Again, I thought that was excellent leadership on his end, and it's a long season.”
Lincoln Keinholz is entering his third year at Ohio State, where he has been a backup since the 2023-24 campaign. He didn't make any appearances last season, with Will Howard leading the way as quarterback. However, he has been redshirted, so he will be a redshirt sophomore, giving him an extra year of eligibility.
We'll see if Keinholz sees the field at all this season. We should see plenty of Julian Sayin after he made some appearances in the 2024-25 season behind Howard as a true freshman. But now he'll have his chance to shine for the Buckeyes. His first start for Ohio State will be in Week 1 when they take on Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns.
