Julian Sayin put his best foot forward, leading two touchdown drives to start the spring game.
The quarterbacks showed how they’ve progressed, Julian Sayin might have taken the lead in the battle for the job, and Ryan Day continues to express urgency to get his team ready for Texas.
Columbus, OH – One hundred and forty days and nights are a long time to wait.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
A long time to see if inexperience will play like experience. A long time to know if spring practice and August practice was enough. A long time for head Buckeye Ryan Day to know if he pushed enough of the right buttons to launch a good start to another pressure-filled football season.
But, before we delve into those issues, let’s get to the most commonly debated piece of the 2025 Ohio State football season.
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Who will be the starting quarterback? Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz.
Both played in Saturday’s spring game in front of a sparse 40,136 fans who got their first look at the reigning national champions. Both made good throws. Both made mistakes.
The numbers say this: Sayin completed 17 of 24 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown; Kienholz completed 12 of 18 for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
Starting with Kienholz, they alternated most of the first half, taking turns with the first-team offense on a pass-heavy day. Sayin started fast with two touchdown drives. Kienholz started slow before he took the offense to the end zone.
Freshman receiver Quincy Porter displayed some of the buzz he has created in spring practice.
“Lincoln settled down after the first drive or so, made some nice throws,” Day said. “But I thought Julian, for the most part, early on, was in rhythm and moved the team down the field for a couple touchdowns, which was good, made some nice throws.”
Sayin played better than he did in an open scrimmage last Saturday, and he may have the lead on the job exiting spring practice. Day was asked if he talked with Sayin about last Saturday, and he said he talks to the quarterbacks every day about what they need to do to improve. And, of course, Day didn’t reveal any thoughts about who might be the starter against Texas.
“It’s our job, and it’s my job, to make sure that they understand how hard it is to be the quarterback at Ohio State and the expectations,” Day said. “You are not allowed to lose a game. You’re not allowed to have a bad day. That’s just the way it is. But as we know, the rewards are endless.
“Julian realized he’s had some good days, he’s had some days he’s learning from. A big trait of great quarterbacks is they’re resilient. All the guys have been that way this spring, but it was good to see him respond the way he did.”
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The practice of a spring game with two separate teams playing regular tackle football no longer happens. That might have something to do with the low attendance. People want to watch football. And so does Day, though he’s only willing to risk so much.
Before the start of spring practice, Saturday’s festivities were being called the spring showcase. But it didn’t take Day long to realize his team needed to play more of an actual game of four quarters. The inexperienced quarterbacks, as much as anything, were the reason.
“This is why we did this,” Day said. “You can see it was a was a fairly significant emphasis on throwing the ball to see how the quarterbacks are going to respond. I’m glad we did the spring game.”
Now Day is ready for more. He said he wishes he could practice with the team another 15 days with more opportunities to go live and push his quarterbacks toward experience and being ready for Texas in 140 days on August 30.
Not a day goes by that Day doesn’t remind the world that the Buckeyes open with Texas, the team they beat in the Cotton Bowl to advance to the national championship game three months ago.
“It goes back to 11 on 11 football, not seven on seven, not routes on air – that’s not football,” Day said. “These guys play like 12 to 13 games a year of 11 on 11, padded, live football. That’s it.”
The seven on seven, the drills and the route work with receivers are part of the process. But for Day, especially this offseason, he wants more. He knows what a championship feels like, and it is obvious he wants this team to be ready to chase another one.
Tavien St. Clair, under the watchful eyes of Ryan Day, bounced back with some nice throws and a touchdown after a rough start that included two interceptions.
“Playing seven on seven that’s great – that’s not football,” Day said. “The throws that you’re making aren’t real because there’s a 6-foot-5 tackle and the guy over here that’s trying to rip your head off. So the more we can create those environments for our guys, the more they’ll figure it out.”
While lack of experience and sometimes repeated mistakes concern Day, he has said more than once this spring three quarterbacks he has are good enough to lead his offense.
“Good athletes like Lincoln and Julian and Tavien they figure it out over time,” Day said. “You just have to continue to find ways to get out there and learn to grow. There has been progress made.”
Tavien is Tavien St. Clair, the true freshman from Bellefontaine with a strong arm and the ability to run much more than the other two. St. Clair is clearly behind the other two at this point because he’s new. He threw interceptions on his first two drives, but he bounced back to complete 11 of 15 passes for 116 yards and a nine-yard touchdown pass on the last play of the day.
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Otherwise, everyone played, mixing and matching, going against different groups. What to make of everyone is tricky. Spring games are famous for splashy plays by players who don’t see much of the field during the season.
But there is insight into the future of freshmen, players who haven’t played much and transfers.
The running game found room against an inexperienced defensive line – maybe a cause for concern and maybe in need of transfer help.
One of the three rings the national champions received during an on-field ceremony.
James Peoples and West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson are the presumed two-back operation. Peoples carried only twice for six yards. Donaldson carried four times for 35 yards and a short touchdown.
No doubt the sound of the name of freshman Bo Jackson got the crowd’s attention. His running did too with 88 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
On the receiving end, sophomore Mylan Graham, who didn’t join the team until last June, caught four passes for 104 yards and a 49-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
All of those numbers came against a defense trying to replace eight starters and playing only a couple of coverages. Matt Patricia’s unit didn’t give away any secrets and the flavor of the day was vanilla.
Day’s urgency and desire to keep practice going into May is because of Texas. He knows the margin for error is miniscule compared to the typical opener against a MAC school. But, despite the inexperience, he likes a lot of what he sees and feels on the practice field.
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“The first thing you notice about this team is they compete – they’re edgy,” he said. “Once you get past some of the guys who have played football here with the ones, it quickly gets inexperienced fast. But even the guys who are going to be starters next year, they haven’t played a lot of football as starters. That’s a whole different deal. You have to produce regularly.”
The goal is to be playing three weeks into January for a ring – or rings.
Between the first and second quarters the national championship was celebrated and Buckeyes from last year’s team walked off the field Lords of the Rings. They received one for making the playoffs and two more for winning it – one from Ohio State and one from the College Football Playoff.
Jack Sawyer and Will Howard, two players who made themselves Buckeye legends, spoke to the crowd after accepting their rings. Howard finished with an “O-H” and the crowd responded with an “I-O.”
“They came in as young men, and now they’re men,” Day said, reflecting on the former players who were on the field to accept their rings. “Not only will they be great football players in the NFL, but they’re going to be great citizens, great ambassadors of Ohio State, great husbands, great dads and their champions. Puts a smile on your face when you see it.”
Day hopes his urgency over the next 140 days brings another championship smile to his face in 365 days.
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