Ryan Day reveals his spring expectations for freshmen QBs Air Noland, Julian Sayin
The Ohio State quarterback room is loaded with talent ahead of the 2024 season, headlined by former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard joining the team this offseason through the transfer portal.
Howard headed to Columbus with 34 games with 27 starts under his belt for the Wildcats, throwing for 5,786 yards and scoring 67 total touchdowns in his four seasons at Kansas State. But the Buckeyes also have two promising quarterbacks that haven’t taken a single collegiate snap on their roster.
Freshman quarterbacks Julian Sayin and Air Noland were both ranked as two of the top five quarterbacks for the 2024 recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Ranking. And following their first spring practice, Buckeyes’ head coach Ryan Day spoke on what he wants to see from his young passers this spring.
“They’re learning what to do, that’s the first level. We’ve talked about this before, the first level is what to do, and then how to do it and why you’re doing it, and what is the first thing right now,” Day explained. “That being said, make great decisions, be confident, and take care of the football is gonna be the things they’ve got to do.”
The Buckeyes have had no shortage of production and quarterback talent both before and during Day’s head coaching tenure at Ohio State. A standard it seems like they’ll be able to maintain in the short and long term.
Noland threw for 8,024 yards and 104 touchdowns in three seasons as a starter at Langston Hughes High School in Fairburn, Georgia. And Sayin transferred to Ohio State this offseason from Alabama following the retirement of Nick Saban, throwing for 2,708 yards and 27 touchdowns in Carlsbad, California.
But despite their high school accomplishments, Day understands that both Noland and Sayin will have a learning curve and adjustment to make as they transition to the college level.
“Compete your tail off, trust it, but they also have to put in a little extra work because they don’t know. So when you walk on the field can you take a meeting to the field or do you need three or four reps in order to say okay, now I’ve got it,” Day said. “As opposed to the real good ones it’s one mistake, I learn from it, I move on, and I can continue to build fast. If we can see those type of trends then we’ll have something.”
Devin Brown is also a part of the Buckeyes’ quarterback room after being narrowly edged out by Kyle McCord last offseason for the starting job. Further decreasing Noland or Sayin’s chances of playing this season.
But the two will look to develop and show steady improvement this season behind the scenes, as Ohio State’s quarterback of the future is likely already on their roster.