The Ohio State football team is coming off of a national championship, and they have a lot of talent to replace. The Buckeyes had the most loaded roster in the country last season, and a lot of those players are going to the NFL. One of the pro-bound Buckeyes is quarterback Will Howard. Ohio State will have a new QB next year, and right now, it sounds like the position battle will come down to Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz.
Ohio State is in the middle of spring ball right now, and position battles are heating up. Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day recently provided an update on the QB situation.
“I think it’s fair to say that Tavien probably has the longest way to go just because of just the lack of experience,” Ryan Day said, according to an article from On3. “I think it’s easy to see – you guys saw it on Saturday, the talent and his ability to run, his athleticism, the arm. He has all those things. He just needs to play more, he needs to see it more. The games just moving really fast for him right now but he’s picking it up, he’s getting it every day. So, I’d say he probably has the farthest way to go and then Lincoln and Julian are, you know, pretty much neck-and-neck right now.”
There isn't a lot of time left for one of these players to make a big jump before the spring game. It sounds like this battle will be pretty even when camp rolls around in the summer.
“I mean, maybe one of these guys jumps out ahead this week, um, and really, you know, makes some separation, which, if they do, then they do,” Day continued. “But, we’ll see. We’ll kind of see where it goes. Tomorrow will be a big day. But then, really, Friday is more of a spider’s practice. We have our high school clinic here. But then the spring game. So, somebody would have to make a significant move here on Tuesday and or Saturday to really make that move to jump ahead.”
Day doesn't want his guys to get to worked up about the spring game/practice. At the end of the day, there's nothing more on the line than any other practice, and it's just part of spring preparation.
“I met with the quarterbacks and, um, you know, I made the comment that the only thing that was different about Saturday’s practice was, um, the fact that, you know, we had students there and we had the media there,” the sixth-year head coach said. “Other than that, it was just another practice. What it does make you realize is how important every rep is. And, that’s, you know, my job and that’s Billy Fessler and Brian Hartline’s job, is to make sure that, you know, they understand every single play matters and we’ve got to get better every day.”
Article Continues BelowOhio State has three guys in the QB room that haven't played a lot of college football. They have two players that served as backups, and then they have a true freshman. There isn't a lot of experience.
“This is a situation where you have Lincoln, who’s been here now for three years, and Julian, you know, just for a year, and then Tavien just showed up so all in three different points of their career but all still learning and growing,” Day added. “None of them really have, you know, a ton of significant playing experience. We’ll see. Yeah, we’ll see. I think that there’s been good play, um, you know. There’s been mistakes made. But that’s part of growing, you know. Now the question is are you going to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again? That’s when, you know, we start to get nervous. But, right now, um, we’re still in that growth phase, that learning phase.”
The Ohio State football QB situation is far from polished, but it's only spring ball. Preparation for next season just started, and there is a lot of time for these guys to settle in before the season starts.
“It’s been, you know, three guys getting after it every day, improvement across the board. You know, there’s been good days on all fronts but then there’s been other days not so good,” Day concluded. “They’re growing. They’re learning. You know, there’s nobody that’s any that much further ahead than the other one right now so they’re going to continue to compete. This is a big week for them and Saturday will be a big day for them as well, getting in front of everybody and having an opportunity to compete.”
The Ohio State football team lacks experience at the QB position, but they don't lack talent. It's going to be exciting to see how this competition develops throughout the summer and who we see take the first snaps of the season for the Buckeyes.