How Lincoln Kienholz's Commitment Impacts Ohio State’s 2023 Recruiting Class
For the second year in a row, Ohio State successfully flipped a quarterback late in the recruiting cycle, securing a commitment on Wednesday morning from Pierre (S.D.) T.F. Riggs four-star Lincoln Kienholz, who was previously committed to Washington.
The script isn’t the exact same as last year, when the Buckeyes landed Utah four-star and former USC commit Devin Brown, but the similarities are striking, as Kienholz – like Brown – is a record-setting quarterback from a state the program doesn’t often recruit.
In fact, Kienholz finished his career as South Dakota’s all-time passing leader with 9,100 yards and 104 touchdowns while rushing for 3,502 yard and 44 scores while leading the Governors to four state championships, three of which he won as the starting quarterback.
He also owns the state record for passing yards and touchdowns in a single season, completing 66.5 percent of his passes this fall for 3,422 yards and 46 touchdowns while rushing for 1,436 yards and 24 scores to be named the Joe Robbie MVP award winner for the third time in his career.
Kienholz is an all-state performer in baseball and basketball, as he plays shortstop, pitches and is the starting shooting guard at Riggs. He batted .472 with six home runs, went 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA on the mound and averaged 19.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game on the hardwood.
Simply put, Kienholz is an all-around athlete who excels no matter what position or sport he’s playing, and it’s not going out on a limb to say that head coach Ryan Day and quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis have uncovered a gem hidden in the plains of South Dakota.
Like Brown, Kienholz’s arm strength, dual-threat abilities and experience in a spread offense will help with his transition to college. However, the level of competition he faced in high school wasn’t exactly the greatest, and his first year on campus should be viewed as an adjustment period.
Seeing as he’ll likely be one of just three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster next season, with C.J. Stroud almost certainly off to the NFL and Brown and sophomore Kyle McCord, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Buckeyes add to the position through the transfer portal this offseason.
That’s not an indictment on Kienholz, but a reflection of college football’s current climate, as whoever loses the battle next season between McCord and Brown could look to continue their career elsewhere. Ohio State would certainly like to avoid a situation where Kienholz is the backup.
It would have to be something similar to Chris Chugunov in 2019, where he transferred to Columbus with the understanding that he would be Justin Fields’ backup, not that he was challenging for the starting job. Who that could be this year remains to be seen, though.
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Kienholz, meanwhile, would ideally develop for a year (or two) and battle for the starting gig in 2024 (or 2025, depending on what happens with McCord and Brown in that time). At that point, he and 2024 Chandler, Ariz., five-star Dylan Raiola would be going at it for the job.
With Raiola’s early commitment, Day and Dennis can now shift their focus to the 2025 cycle, where Findlay’s Ryan Montgomery – the younger brother of 2023 four-star offensive tackle commit Luke Montgomery – is one of two quarterbacks in the class with an offer.
The other is Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian Academy four-star Colin Hurley, but he committed to LSU last month. Whether the staff continues that pursuit remains to be seen, but that’s a question for another day, as the Buckeyes are now just happy to have their guy for 2023.
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