Ohio State QB competition: Ryan Day updates where things stand ahead of training camp

As summer workouts wind down and training camp quickly approaches, Ryan Day said the Ohio State QB competition is in a holding pattern. Speaking at Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas, he wants to see how things go on the field before things shift at all.

Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz are still vying for the job, and Day previously said it was “wide open” during spring practice. He later confirmed it would be a “two-horse race” even though star freshman Tavien St. Clair is on board.

As of Tuesday, Day said the plan is to go through camp and see which quarterback separates himself. He also pointed out the importance of the Iron Buckeyes from a leadership standpoint, although both Sayin and Kienholz have shown leadership traites.

“Same, because it’s hard to make any progress unless you’re actually on the field playing football,” Day said of where the battle stands. “But I think both guys have gotten stronger. Will be interesting to see once we get done with our summer program with Mick [Marotti] next week … who’s Iron Buckeyes? That’ll be big for the leadership.

“But guys have taken leadership roles. They’ve been throwing with the wide receivers. I ask those guys all the time, and they like both of them. We’re going to put them in as many competitive situation as we possibly can to figure out who handles that the best because we’ve got to be on point Week 1. We can’t be messing around. I know that we’ll need all of those guys in that room this year.”

Day compared this year’s quarterback situation to last year with Will Howard joining the program. The former Kansas State star brought plenty of experience with him and started the whole year for Ohio State as the program won its first national championship under Day’s leadership. That’s not always the case.

As a result, Ryan Day said depth is crucial at the quarterback position, and he expects each quarterback to see the field at some point. That said, the competition is shaping up to be a “fierce” one ahead of the season opener against Texas.

“When you look at Will, he was a guy who was an older guy, who was experienced and he was able to sustain the entire season,” Day said. “That’s not always the way it is. We have to build depth in that room, as well. I’ve got a feeling they’ll all play throughout the season, but it’ll be a fierce competition to [decide] who the starter is.”