As a recruit, Tavien St. Clair was a five-star, top-five quarterback in the country and the best player coming out of the state of Ohio, which led to him being seen as one of the crown jewels of Ohio State's highly rated 2025 recruiting class and an integral piece of the Buckeyes' future for years to come.
This would all lead you to believe that by his second year we would be seeing, or at the very least hearing, things that match his high school recruiting evaluation, but that has not been the case. In reality, everything we have seen or heard about him has been the opposite, and that was put on full display again this past week against Kent State.
Against Kent State, Tavien St. Clair was the third quarterback to see the field, just like it was against Ball State in week one. Three-star freshman Luke Fahey once again saw the field first, leading four drives before St. Clair got his chance to command the offense with a little over five minutes remaining.
That left him with only two drives to show why he is OSU's QB3; in those two drives, he threw only one pass, which resulted in a bad interception that led to the only Kent State points of the afternoon.
Tavien St. Clair didn't play well vs. Kent State
When coming out of high school, Tavien St. Clair was often compared to Buckeye great Justin Fields, and so far he has looked like him, but just not his college version. He has looked like the NFL version of Fields: a quarterback with the physical traits but who struggles to process and lock onto his first initial read, regardless of what the defense is showing.
This is something that hurts him immensely because processing and reading the field are necessary traits to run a Ryan Day offense and traits that his competitor, Luke Fahey, has shown, along with having nice arm talent.
All this leads me to believe that even if Julian Sayin leaves- something that I think is still up in the air- St. Clair will not be Ohio State's starting quarterback next season, which means there is a great chance he enters the portal once this season concludes.
That is because Coach Day and the coaching staff clearly have more faith in Luke Fahey this season and going forward. This is abundantly clear because he was named quarterback two as a freshman, even though he was nowhere near as highly touted as St. Clair was coming out, ashe was a three-star ranked as the 38th quarterback in the country in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports.
Additionally, if Sayin does leave, I think it's extremely likely OSU will be aggressive in the portal and bring in a veteran quarterback who can serve as a competent stopgap if needed. Now, while Tavien St. Clair has clearly done himself no favors in determining his future at OSU, I also don't think he's the type of quarterback Ryan Day likes to run his offense.
Ohio State might pursue a transfer QB next season
Over Ryan Day's tenure here in Columbus, he has never had an offense where his quarterback's athleticism and running ability were a key component. Even in those two years when Justin Fields was the starter, he averaged only 39.4 yards per game on the ground and only had one game over 100 rushing yards.
This, in retrospect, is insane: in the NFL, Fields is seen as one of the most dangerous running quarterbacks in recent memory and has five games with over 100 rushing yards, but this shows Day isn't one to showcase a quarterback's legs in his offense.
I believe this hurts St. Clair because being in an offense that uses his athleticism and running ability could make everything easier for him and slow the game down, which is something he clearly needs. This is why I believe Lincoln Kienholz, who is playing amazingly at Louisville, could never truly find his footing in Columbus because he is not a traditional quarterback in the way C. J. Stroud or Julian Sayin is.
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Brohm is running a system tailor-made for Kienholz to succeed, and due to the potential similarities I see between these two quarterbacks, it is something St. Clair will need to succeed, and it is something that Coach Day may not be willing to do.
Coach Day's offense doesn't seem very quarterback-agnostic, and that isn't a bad thing because at Ohio State you get your pick of top talent and have the luxury of being picky and finding the right players for your system. You don't have to take whatever you can get and figure out how to work with it.
This, combined with the play of Tavien St. Clair, makes me really begin to question St. Clair's future as a Buckeye. Barring growth and adjustments, which is still a possibility, the Ohio native could very well be playing football somewhere else next season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google