Separating from the Pack: Ryan Day Sees Frontrunners Emerge in Ohio State QB Battle
The quarterback race at Ohio State is open going into Saturday’s spring game, which kicks off at noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app thanks to Ryan Day. He has seen, though, that certain quarterbacks are beginning to get an advantage in a talented and deep quarterback group.
In the team’s quarterback competition, the Ohio State coach said to reporters on Wednesday that he is “seeing some separation.”
“I don’t think we’ve narrowed it down, but you’re seeing guys make certain plays and certain things that are showing up in practice,” Day said. “As we start to get into some of the movement stuff, and you get into situational things, you’re starting to just see commonalities. A lot of these guys bring great things to the table. Each guy brings either an experience or a skill set that’s different from the others.”
Day continued, saying he is been impressed by the quarterbacks for the Buckeyes and that they can have a variety of effects on the game. In the end, he wants to see “consistency” from the quarterback who prevails in the competition.
“The good news is they all can move and that’s certainly made an impact on the run game,” Day said. “And the pass game, you know, there’s good things there. There’s still things that they’re improving on but you’re seeing some separation and I wouldn’t say [I’m ready to] name a starter or anything like that, but there’s been good competition and guys have made plays.”
Will Howard, a transfer from Kansas State, was considered the front-runner going into spring workouts. Out of the seven quarterbacks on Ohio State’s roster, the fifth-year senior is the most experienced. He helped his last school win the Big 12 title in 2022 before throwing for 2,190 yards, 21 touchdowns, and eight interceptions last season. He also had 300 rushing yards and seven rushing scores.
Day would not say whether Howard was the favorite to start. However, he acknowledged that despite being in the team’s facilities early and late, he is “working really hard.” Day stated that they are “trying to put him in the most difficult scenarios we possibly can” on the field to observe how he handles challenging circumstances.
“We haven’t really talked about [a pecking order] very much, but his experience is definitely showing,” Day said of Howard. “I think that he’s played a lot of football before. And I think his combination on the field of being able to extend plays with his feet, run in the run game, pull the ball, we’ve seen that happen before, and then be accurate in the pocket throwing the ball, play-action, on the move. All those things put stress on the defense.”
In Ohio State’s quarterback competition, Julian Sayin is the most intriguing name outside of Howard. After enrolling early at Alabama, the freshman and five-star prospect in the Class of 2024 transferred to Columbus in January.
Day pointed out that Sayin has been switching quarterbacks in practice, so he did not completely rule Sayin out as a potential starter.
“He’s in the mix,” Day said of Sayin. “Chip really rolls them. It doesn’t matter if the ones, twos or threes, so you get an opportunity to see what guys look like. I think, sometimes, when you’re young, you get two or three work, and sometimes it can look like a mess out there.
“And so this has been a really good sample size to figure out where guys are at. But Julian’s been competing his tail off and he’ll continue to do that and he’s got a very bright future. He’s gonna have a really good summer.”
Despite the fact that Sayin and Howard are relatively fresh to the Buckeyes program, Day has never let that stop him from starting an incoming transfer. 2019 saw Justin Fields transfer from Georgia to Ohio State, where he quickly made his quarterbacking debut. But for the last three seasons, quarterbacks that Day recruited out of high school have started, with Kyle McCord leading the team in scoring last season.
“He’s now into Year 3 and a lot of the things that we’re doing is still what we’ve done in the past,” Day said. “So, he probably feels the most comfortable out there with the offense, and you see that.”
Last season, Day did not choose a starting quarterback until the early weeks of the campaign, during which Brown and McCord engaged in a quarterback duels. Day stated that spring practices were more about preparation than it was about announcing a starting lineup.
“Right now the focus is just getting these guys as many reps as we can, evaluating them,” Day said. “But as we head into the preseason into the end of the season, that probably means getting guys reps in the game, so that they don’t get put into a situation where they haven’t played a lot of football before.”