Greg McElroy predicts Julian Sayin to win Ohio State quarterback battle

Ohio State‘s quarterback competition is in full swing heading into the meat of the offseason. Head coach Ryan Day has confirmed it’s a two-man race between Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz — though he likely won’t name a starter until fall camp nears its conclusion.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy revealed that he would tab Sayin, a former Five-Star-Plus+ recruit, as the Buckeyes QB1 if the battle had to be decided right now. Despite Day saying the two are “neck and neck” in the race — McElroy is all in on the young Sayin starting against Texas during Week 1.

“If you listen to what’s going on in the spring, it sounds like it’s been a little bit of a challenge. Maybe it’s been a little bit up and down, which, by the way, is good,” McElroy said. “If it’s always good all the time, then how do you know how he’s going to respond to adversity? You want him to maybe go through some troubles. Maybe have two or three practices where he doesn’t play well, only to see him bounce back. But he finished on a really high note [during the spring game].

“… I do think [the starting quarterback is] going to be Julian Sayin. I’m not saying he solidified himself as the starter, because he’s competing against Lincoln Kienholz, who has been really impressive.”

During the Spring game, Sayin completed 17 of his 24 passing attempts for 175 yards. He led the Buckeyes to three-straight touchdown drives to start the game. Meanwhile, Kienholz went 12 of 18 for 158 yards to go with two touchdowns. Kienholz completed a 51-yard catch and run touchdown to Mylan Graham on a slant, which turned into one of the best highlight reel plays of the afternoon.

McElroy, a former college quarterback at Alabama himself, is still high on Kienholz’s abilities, even if he doesn’t predict him to be the Buckeyes’ starter. He pondered whether his presence in the quarterback room is pushing the former five-star recruit in Sayin to be the best version of himsel on the practice field

“I think in time, [Sayin’s] talent and his ceiling will allow him to emerge just a little bit. So I anticipate him being the guy,” McElroy added. “But this has been outstanding that Sayin has had to compete every single day against a guy in Lincoln Keinholz that has proven the ability to improve drastically from where we saw him play a couple years ago against Missouri, regardless of whoever steps out there on the field at quarterback for Ohio State.”

Regardless of who Ryan Day chooses, it’s clear that Ohio State’s starting QB won’t have the experience Buckeyes fans are used to from their signal callers. After all, they just won the national championship with a fifth-year QB under center. Ohio State won’t get any of that from their inexperienced quarterback room this Fall. How that impacts the Buckeyes’ success this fall remains to be seen.