The Ohio State football team has a quarterback battle on its hands. Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz are trying to win the starting job for the first time in their careers. Now that Will Howard is with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the job is open for the taking. Right now, Sayin is the leader in the clubhouse.
That lead shrank after the Spring Game. Kienholz was the better performer in a stadium full of people in a simulated live game. The Buckeyes are looking for someone who can handle the pressures of playing in front of 100,000+ fans. Sayin had more good moments over the course of the Spring, though.
Kienholz is still battling uphill for the job. While Sayin is widely expected to win the job, that doesn't mean that it's an open-and-shut case that he will. Kienholz can still take the job with some strong performances in the Fall. In particular, he needs to do a couple of things.
How Lincoln Kienholz can steal the Ohio State starting QB job from Julian Sayin
Ryan Day has talked multiple times over the years that he is looking for consistent play from his quarterback. He wants his starter to be able to string multiple days of good play together. That's the biggest thing that Kienholz needs to do once Fall practice starts.
Kienholz also needs to keep his mistakes to a minimum. He has to make sure that he doesn't throw bad interceptions in practice. That's something that could lose him the job right away. He's more athletic than Sayin is too, so he needs to show that he can add another dimension to the offense by using his legs.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are going to figure out which of these two quarterbacks is going to be able to get the ball to the playmakers on the outside and let them do their thing. Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, and Max Klare are all really good players who need to ball.
It wouldn't be the most shocking thing in the world if Kienholz is able to steal this job. He just needs to focus on being consistent.