Michael Cohen
Faculty Soccer and Faculty Basketball Author
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Ohio State’s gamers progressed by means of warmups forward of their spring recreation on Saturday afternoon, a digicam crew meandered from one place group to a different gathering B-roll for the nationwide tv broadcast. And considerably predictably, no assortment of gamers spent extra time in focus than the quarterbacks.
chunk of that focus belonged to veterans Will Howard and Devin Brown, the frontrunners on this yr’s quarterback competitors and the primary signal-callers to take reps with the starters over the weekend. The previous was a extremely coveted switch from Kansas State. The latter was the Buckeyes’ main backup final season.
However as kickoff approached, there was a second when the digicam operator steadied his lens on true freshman Julian Sayin, one of many crown jewels from Ohio State’s efforts within the switch portal over the winter. Sayin was a five-star prospect and the No. 1 quarterback within the 247Sports Composite for the 2024 recruiting cycle. He had simply enrolled at Alabama for the spring semester when head coach Nick Saban made the stunning determination to retire, rocking the game from one coast and convention to the opposite. That is when Sayin jumped within the portal and landed in Columbus.
“This can be a future star proper right here,” the cameraman mentioned when a colleague raised his eyebrows about filming the quarterback adjoining to Howard in Ohio State’s throwing line. Overhearing the remark, Sayin tried and failed to carry again a smile.
For the second consecutive offseason, the Buckeyes navigated their spring recreation with a quarterback battle because the prevailing storyline — solely this yr’s model featured a decidedly trendy twist for head coach Ryan Day: choice and retention intertwined.
Howard, Brown and Sayin are three of the 5 scholarship quarterbacks that Day and his workers want to preserve past the following two weeks, with sophomore Lincoln Kienholz and Air Noland, one other five-star freshman, rounding out the record. That the Buckeyes may even assemble such a set of expertise speaks to the ample sources and consolidation of energy now fueling the game’s elite. However sustaining such depth when the switch portal reopens on Tuesday presents a completely totally different set of challenges. If two’s firm and three’s a crowd, then the quarterback room at Ohio State is a swarm.
“We’ll sit down as a workers and meet on it,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly mentioned. “Ryan, he does an unbelievable job of, I believe, [getting] all our gamers [to] perceive the place they match and what the image is, and we’ll give them our evaluation. We do it after on daily basis. They know the place they stand after follow one, after two, after three, after 4. We grade the whole lot. They’re getting fixed suggestions by way of the place we’re.”
There was nothing from Saturday’s spring recreation to alter the notion that Howard stays the presumptive starter. The 6-foot-4, 237-pound senior bypassed what he described as mid- to late-round curiosity from the NFL to make use of his last yr of eligibility at Ohio State, which in and of itself suggests he anticipated to win the job. And when the first-string offense took the sphere at Ohio Stadium over the weekend, it was Howard who managed the opening collection. He completed the afternoon having accomplished 9 of 13 passes for 77 yards however failed to steer a landing drive.
Ohio State Soccer spring recreation highlights
The race between Howard and Brown is shut sufficient by means of 15 spring practices that neither Day nor Kelly tipped their respective fingers when requested about naming a starter throughout postgame information conferences. That alone could be sufficient to make sure Brown, a junior, stays with the Buckeyes by means of fall camp to proceed difficult for the job. Brown produced the sport’s first landing on a 14-yard cross to Brennen Schramm late within the second quarter and accomplished 5 of seven throws for 66 yards total. He additionally gained 24 dashing yards on three scrambles that highlighted a capability to make performs exterior the pocket.
“When you may have a quarterback who can run,” Day mentioned, “it does change the numbers as everyone knows. You guys have seen that through the years. And it’ll be a weapon for us this yr as a result of all of our quarterbacks are athletic sufficient to try this.”
Key takeaways from Ohio State’s spring recreation
With Howard and Brown seemingly atop the pack and Sayin making an early surge since arriving from Alabama, it is Kienholz and Noland whose names are prone to be concerned in switch hypothesis till the portal closes on April 30. Kienholz was a four-star prospect and the No. 15 quarterback within the 2023 recruiting cycle. He flipped his dedication from Washington to Ohio State and performed sparingly final season because the third-stringer. He accomplished 6 of 17 passes for 86 yards and no touchdowns in a bowl loss to Missouri after starter Kyle McCord entered the portal and Brown suffered an damage. What Kienholz confirmed on Saturday wasn’t significantly better: 10 of 17 for 71 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions.
Previous to Sayin’s arrival, Noland was the lone quarterback in Ohio State’s signing class. He was a four-star prospect and the No. 4 quarterback within the 2024 cycle whose inventory continued to rise after a powerful exhibiting on the Elite 11 Finals final summer season. Noland remained loyal to the Buckeyes regardless of persistent rumors of a flip to Oregon and the surprising dedication from Sayin over the winter. He accomplished 5 of seven passes for 47 yards, no touchdowns and one interception throughout the spring recreation, but additionally added 42 dashing yards on 5 makes an attempt. Sayin, who completed 10-for-17 for 85 yards, no touchdowns and one interception, is noticeably forward in his improvement.
“Julian is a really quick processor, you already know?” Kelly mentioned. “He actually thinks very, in a short time on his toes. He makes actually fast selections. He would not stick in reads. He can progress and he sees issues rather well for a younger participant and never having been uncovered to quite a lot of faculty defenses. And particularly what [defensive coordinator] Jim [Knowles] does. Jim could make a younger freshman quarterback cry with among the stuff he does. However I by no means noticed that with Julian.”
In some respects, what the Buckeyes have compiled of their quarterback room is the dwelling embodiment of roster constructing within the present local weather. There is a high-level switch (Howard) who’s keen to complete his profession with a flourish. There’s an skilled upperclassman (Brown) who has patiently waited his flip. There is a developmental teenager (Kienholz) who nonetheless wants time to develop. There is a prized portal pickup (Sayin) whose determination to affix the group could not have been anticipated. There is a conventional four-star freshman (Noland) who was the focus of Day’s final recruiting class.
Ohio State has acquired its quarterbacks in seemingly each manner conceivable forward of the 2024 marketing campaign. The actual problem is holding them.
“We’ll give them suggestions, for positive,” Day mentioned. “And go from there.”
Michael Cohen covers faculty soccer and basketball for FOX Sports activities with an emphasis on the Huge Ten. Observe him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.
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