Who Is Behind Julian Sayin As Ohio State’s QB2 in the 2026 Season?

Julian Sayin put together one of the most impressive first seasons of college ball in recent memory.

After the departure of Will Howard to the 2025 NFL Draft, the Ohio State Buckeyes turned to Sayin to lead the team this past season. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, finishing fourth in the Heisman race with 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns on a 77.0% completion mark.

Fortunately, the Buckeyes' coaching staff won't have to completely reshape the offense, as Sayin's set to return for the upcoming season.

However, while there's little concern about the starting spot, the rungs of the depth chart ladder below Sayin are where questions begin to arise. Just this offseason, the team lost a clear-cut No. 2 option, Lincoln Kienholz, to the NCAA Transfer Portal.

He ended up joining the Louisville as the team's expected starter next season.

So now, the Buckeyes are going to have to work on finding Sayin's next backup and the No. 3 on the roster.

The Buckeyes are going to be looking a bit different at the quarterback position next season.

While Julian Sayin will stay as the starter, the backup might end up being Tavien St. Clair, with the rest of the depth chart looking thin.#GoBucks

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— Cade Cracas (@CracasCade) January 4, 2026

Currently, the team's quarterbacks on the roster from 2025 are Sayin and three true freshmen: Tavien St. Clair, Trey Robinette and Kolton Stover. Of the three, St. Clair seemingly has the No. 2 spot locked down.

Another addition to the quarterback room, Luke Fahey, a three-star recruit in the Class of 2026, will come in and work for the third spot on the depth chart against Robinette and Stover, alongside any other signal callers who join the roster late.

Why St. Clair should be the backup... and compete against Sayin for the starting job

Now, now. There isn't a world where Ohio State decides to move on from a Heisman candidate in one offseason, but St. Clair is a very talented and physically gifted quarterback.

In 2026, as long as they designate him as one, he'll be a redshirt freshman. Coming out of high school, he led Bellefontaine to a strong 9-3 record and a small run in the state playoffs while tossing for 2,536 yards and 29 touchdowns. The exciting thing about St. Clair is that he's mobile, tacking on nine touchdowns in high school as well.

Throughout his first year as a Buckeye, he garnered high praise from the coaching staff. Back in October 2025, coaches removed his black stripe, a tradition that makes him an official member of the team.

In workouts and practices throughout the 2025 season, he showed little glimpses of good zip and control on the football. At 6'4", 223 pounds, the 19-year-old is physically gifted, while also having good control of the fundamentals.

Tavien St. Clair next man up confirmed

He needs as many reps as he can get after Coldwater dominated him pic.twitter.com/PPxFBfn22R
— Ohio Divided (@BuckeyeNatty) December 27, 2025

With St. Clair spending his entire true freshman season getting acclimated to the program, he should feel much more comfortable with feedback from the coaching staff and what the team's system is. Recently, he spoke about what he's worked on the most in practice with head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes coaching staff.

"We work deep balls, and he [Ryan Day] always has me come with him to throw the deep balls because he's like, 'You can put it out there to wherever I want you to put it,'" St. Clair said. "...I mean, he's a tough coach. If you do something wrong, he'll let you know."

St. Clair should compete against Sayin for the starting job, at least to show Sayin that he's not a shoo-in for the spot, allowing him to remain competitive and driven to grow as a signal caller. Worst case, the Buckeyes are able to see that Sayin isn't comfortable with competition, allowing them to lean into St. Clair.

However, it would be surprising to not see Sayin as the QB1 and St. Clair just a rung below as the QB2.

Behind St. Clair and Sayin, things are going to get dicey. The quarterback room is very inexperienced, giving the coaching staff a tough decision on who they are going to place on the depth chart behind them.

The Buckeyes will begin to slowly shuffle in the offseason portal signings and Class of 2026 in the coming weeks as they prepare to ramp up workouts and practices.

The team has high expectations for next season, and if something drastic happens and the team loses Sayin, they'll need to be convinced they've got a guy behind him that can pick up where he left off.

And if he can keep showing what he's worth, St. Clair should be the man for the job.