Sayin Out, But Who’s In … Fahey Or St. Clair?

If third-ranked Ohio State is to remain in contention for a national championship, the choice between Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair must be the right one.

Columbus, OH – Ryan Day didn’t flat out say so, but he might as well have.

Julian Sayin’s football season as No. 3 Ohio State’s starting quarterback is over.

“We’re not going to put a timeline on his recovery, but he is out indefinitely,” Day said after practice Tuesday, intimating about a 1% chance his quarterback sees the field again this season. “What we’re trying to do is give Julian and his family the space and privacy to go through this process.

“But based on the nature of the injury, we are putting together a plan for him not being available for the regular season, and then also him not being available for the postseason.”

The nature of the injury, something to his right shoulder, stood out in HD during Saturday’s 19-15 victory at Indiana. As is Day’s practice, he did not reveal details of the injury. Could be a while before that’s public knowledge.

Freshman Luke Fahey relieved Sayin in the fourth quarter and played about how anyone would expect with his lack of experience in that pressure-packed and hostile setting.

Assumptions have been made ever since Saturday that Fahey will start Ohio State’s next game a week from this coming Saturday at USC. That certainly might be the case, but Day said the early part of this week will be a competition between Fahey, a three-star recruit from Southern California, and sophomore Tavien St. Clair, the all-Ohio five-star recruit from Bellefontaine.

If the Buckeyes were playing this Saturday, Day said Fahey would start.

“Going into the last few games, Luke’s been ahead of Tavien in terms of what we’ve seen,” Day said. “But now that we have a bye week, these guys are both going to get a lot of reps. We’re going to start to put together a plan on how we’re going to move forward, and we’re going to play the guy that gives us the best chance to win.”

Clearly Fahey emerged as the best guy to finish a game. But the best chance to win long term? Yes, Day and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith need to see both this week and think long and hard about who is the best-chance-to-win guy if the Buckeyes are to remain a national title contender. Even then, neither quarterback is a guarantee to be good enough to keep the dream alive.

“We need both the guys to practice really well, prepare, and understand that we’re going to need them to win a championship,” Day said. “It’s obviously a big decision, but we’ll take a lot of input. But ultimately, I’ll make the final decision as we enter the next week.”

Is Day holding back on naming a starter to create more competition? He does that in the spring and fall camp, but that doesn’t feel like the move here. He plays a game a week from Saturday. This is not the time to waste practice reps on someone you know won’t play.

While it would be more beneficial from a reps standpoint to already know who the starter will be, this is good news for the Buckeyes. St. Clair, apparently, is closer to being ready to play than we were led to believe.

If Fahey starts and struggles or gets hurt, the vibe is that St. Clair might be ready to play at just about the same level as Fahey, maybe higher.

Of course, as Day often says, we won’t know what either is capable of until they do it on the field under the bright lights and against a Big Ten opponent’s first-teamers. What we’ve seen in mop-up time against much lesser talent is not a proof of concept.

Playing against USC in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will prove whether either of them is ready to be the guy.

Many have referenced Cardale Jones taking over as the third-string quarterback and leading the 2014 team to the national championship. But that wasn’t just Jones. The rest of the team played better, Ezekiel Elliott made it a habit of rushing for over 200 yards and the offense became unstoppable. History may repeat itself, but you can’t count on when.

“It’s been done before, and that’s a challenge to them,” Day said. “But it’s also a challenge to the entire team. Everybody needs to step up and do their part and upgrade across the board, pick up the slack for losing Julian.”

That was the most revealing thing Day said during his 10-minute news conference.

The rest of the team – offense, defense, special teams – can no longer rely on the quarterback to lead them. They need to lead the quarterback.

The unit that needs to lead the most is the offensive line. The 2024 group responded to the Michigan loss. The 2026 group must respond in the same manner.

This backfield of Bo Jackson, Ja’Kobi Jackson and Isaiah West is not close to TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins in experience, production or explosiveness. But they must become a group that defenses fear to take some pressure off the passing game.

A rising tide of the rest of the team is necessary to lift the boat the quarterback commands.

The stature between the 5-foot-11 Fahey and the 6-4 St. Clair is obvious. But day after day in practice, Fahey rose above that five-inch height difference, and the safe bet is he will continue to do so.

Day’s impressions of Fahey: “He’s an extremely hard worker. He puts a lot of hours in. He’s extremely competitive. He has a moxie about him. We’re always looking for quarterbacks who are just obsessed with being great. You can quickly see how important it is to him.”

Smith’s impressions of St. Clair: “Tavien’s obviously got this big arm. He’s another guy that can extend plays. He’s a big person in the pocket.”

From the outside, opinions often assume play calling will change a lot depending on which quarterback plays. But drastic change doesn’t sound necessary that way Smith talks.

“They’re a little bit different players – both have strengths that you like,” he said. “Things that we do well, that’s what they’ve been practicing, too. Maybe it’s a little bit what you call with them, things that we’re used to, things we may add or change up. We’ve done that week to week anyways in regards of who we’re playing.”

Tuesday and the days that follow this week might be the most important days of the season.

Ryan Day must choose wisely.