Five-star 2025 quarterback commit Tavien St. Clair was thought to be the heir apparent to Julian Sayin when he moved on from the Ohio State program, but a funny thing happened during fall camp. True freshman Luke Fahey beat out St. Clair and surprised everyone by becoming second on the depth chart.
That was perhaps no more evident than when Sayin went down with an injury against the Hoosiers, and head coach Ryan Day and the coaching staff trotted out Fahey to take the keys to the offense and try to gut out a win rather than St. Clair. Even after the game, head coach Day said things will undoubtedly look a little different with Fahey in there going forward.
That would seem to suggest that the Mission Viejo, California, native would be the guy tasked with keeping all of the big Ohio State goals between the guardrails. However, at a press conference on Tuesday evening, Day wasn't ready to lock that in and instead said that, though Fahey is ahead of St. Clair at the moment, the Ohio native will get an opportunity to show that he gives the Buckeyes the best chance to win moving forward.
"Now that we have a bye week, these guys are both going to get a lot of reps, and we're going to start to put together a plan on how we're going to move forward, and we're going to play the guy that gives us the best chance to win," Day said. "And so we'll get both these guys some reps and get an idea of how these next couple of days go."
For many Ohio State fans, that's music to their ears because St. Clair is the household name that was one of the top ten recruits in the 2025 cycle and also in the program for a year, while Fahey was a three-star prospect who is just a true freshman.
We don't know how guys are wired or how things go in practice, but with two weeks of practice before the next game at USC, maybe the opening and real-life opportunity to grab the starting job is just what St. Clair needs. There's no doubt the job is likely Fahey's to lose, but now we'll see what a quarterback battle on steroids looks like before Halloween, when Ohio State makes that trip to sunny SoCal.
Important to note, however, is that Day seems to be interested in making a decision on the starter heading into game prep next week, so there's not a lot of sand in the hourglass. That's the right thing to do in order to get a game plan in and be ready to face a pretty good USC squad.
"I think that's where our mind is right now," Day said of the chosen quarterback leading Ohio State to a national title. "And so putting that plan together is where we're at right now. I think it's important for everybody. Ultimately, it'll be my decision. But Arthur is going to have some say in it. Billy's going to have some say in it. The coaches will have some say in it. You listen to the guys on defense, Matt Patricia, but also the players, the receivers, the linemen. There's a lot that goes with the quarterback position. It's obviously a big decision. We'll take a lot of input. But ultimately, I'll make the final decision as we head into next week."
#OhioState is getting reps for both Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair to determine who's the best option to replace Julian Sayin as QB1.
— Bucknuts (@Bucknuts247) October 21, 2026
"Because it's the bye week... this gives us a couple of days to sort of get some reps and just come up for errors a little bit. But we're going… pic.twitter.com/ft7lsHFQ9E
So, it all comes down to the Ohio kid, St. Clair, and the lifelong Ohio State fan from California, Fahey, to pick this thing up and keep this talented Buckeye squad on track for some pretty big things. The problem is that the quarterback Rubik's Cube has to be solved quickly, and Day knows it.
"We're going to have to get this thing organized quickly, and both guys will get some reps with the ones this week, and we'll kind of evaluate it from there," Day said. "This is a challenge for both Luke and Tavien to step up in a big way. The plan when both those guys came here was to play, and here they are. And a coach can always say you're one snap away until it's real, and it's real now.
"Someone goes down, someone else has got to step up, and this is an unbelievable opportunity for them. And so they have to seize it, but now they got to press on and have to perform at a high level."
Look for more information by way of a starter being named early next week. Off to the races we go.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State QBs Luke Fahey, Tavien St. Clair will compete to start