Even though he lives in Southern California, Luke Fahey has always dreamed of playing for Ohio State.
Raised to be a Buckeye by his father and grandparents, Fahey has watched Ohio State games throughout his childhood.
“My dad's parents were both students at Ohio State, and they met actually in the library at Ohio State,” Fahey said. “In their house, all they did was watch Ohio State, every single sport that was on TV. And then my dad grew up an Ohio State fan, and he kind of molded me into being an Ohio State fan. I've watched so many games over the years, and I've tuned into so many Ohio State sports over the years. I even had a little foam football that was Ohio State that I would throw around with my dad.”
So when Ohio State offered him a scholarship two weeks ago during his official visit in Columbus, it didn’t take long for Fahey to accept the offer. By the time Fahey returned home to Mission Viejo, he already knew he’d commit to Ohio State, a decision he made official just 11 days later.
“I always had in the back of my mind, like, if I ever got the opportunity to play (for Ohio State), that I would always take full advantage of that opportunity,” Fahey told Eleven Warriors. “When I got the offer, I feel like when I went home and everything, it was kind of like a no-brainer for me, just because again, I grew up a huge fan, and it's kind of like everything that they have at that school, it's all positive, and it's a great opportunity for definitely a quarterback to go and pursue his dreams there and further his football career and a great academic career.”
Two days after announcing his commitment to Ohio State, Fahey said it still felt surreal to be able to call himself a Buckeye.
“It feels like a dream come true,” Fahey said Sunday. “I've been dreaming about playing for Ohio State my whole life, and I've been watching Ohio State growing up my whole life, so it kind of feels unreal.”
There could have been multiple reasons for Fahey not to accept Ohio State’s offer. Ohio State didn’t officially offer him until he had already made official visits to Indiana, Stanford and Oklahoma State, and Fahey acknowledged that Ohio State was a late entrant into his recruitment. He’ll face stiffer competition to earn the starting job at OSU, where he’ll begin his career backing up Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz before competing with the likes of 2025 five-star signee Tavien St. Clair and 2027 commit Brady Edmunds to be the Buckeyes’ next starter.
But Fahey is ready to embrace that competition, believing it will help him become the best quarterback he can be.
“I just feel like really any place you go to, there's going to be competition and stuff like that. No matter what school you go to, there's always going to be a kid in front of you that's going to be just as good or better than you, and there's going to be a guy in front of him that's just as good or better than you,” Fahey said. “And when you go to those kind of powerhouse programs, they recruit the best kid every single year. Of course, there's a lot of questions of like, ‘Why would he go there?’ when they just got a big-name recruit, when their starter's probably a sophomore and he has a couple years left. But I just feel like, again, in life, you've got to compete wherever you go.
“There's nothing going to be handed to you at any school you go to. So why not give myself the best opportunity and go compete with the best people in the world?”
“I've been dreaming about playing for Ohio State my whole life, and I've been watching Ohio State growing up my whole life, so it kind of feels unreal.”– Luke Fahey on committing to Ohio State
Fahey’s ultimate goal is to play in the NFL, and he believes the competition at Ohio State will help him get there.
“At other schools, I felt like the path to being a starting quarterback was easier. But again, I don't want to be scared of competition when in life you're going to have to compete,” Fahey said. “I know those guys will make me work hard at every aspect while I'm there, if that's on the field, in the weight room, sprints. And again, my goal is to be an NFL quarterback. And when you're around people that are better than you, it only pushes you to be better. It only makes you work that much harder.”
Fahey also believes he’ll receive the best possible coaching from Ohio State coach Ryan Day and quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler.
“I don't think there's any place in the country that can say what (Day)'s done at that quarterback position,” Fahey said. “I feel like it's the best place to be, and with him being an offensive-minded head coach and a quarterback's coach, I feel like that's a huge plus. And Coach Fessler, of course, being a quarterback, he played the position, so he knows what it's like. And he's been around the game a lot, coached a lot of high-level dudes. And that was one of the biggest things that went into my decision was that developmental piece of going to a place where I'm going to get developed into the best quarterback I can possibly be and the best man I can possibly be.”
“There's nothing going to be handed to you at any school you go to. So why not give myself the best opportunity and go compete with the best people in the world?”– Luke Fahey on embracing competition at Ohio State
Fahey, who says his favorite memory growing up as a Buckeye fan was watching Ohio State’s College Football Playoff semifinal win over Clemson in 2020, says he’s already come to understand how much it means to be a Buckeye through the interactions he’s had with Ohio State alumni.
“At my 7-on-7 tournament, I want to say last weekend, one of the refs was an alum of Ohio State, I hadn't talked to him or anything like that, and then when he was just asking about my college decision and where I was thinking about going and I told him, he was like, ‘Oh yeah, I went there, man, it's nothing but a great school.’ And then actually today, I had like a little quarterback session with my QB trainer and a guy that one of his kids was there, his parents played (baseball) at Ohio State,” Fahey said. “When you mention the name Ohio State, there's a lot of connections that people have to it, so I think that's just like again, it kind of just shows how much everyone loves Ohio State. And all the people that I've talked to about Ohio State, they’ve said absolutely nothing but positive things about Ohio State.”
One of those people he’s heard great things from is his former Mission Viejo teammate and current Ohio State freshman wide receiver Phillip Bell, who helped convince the Buckeyes to take a chance on Fahey.
“He did a really good job putting in a word for me, I think, when he was up there, and he committed to the school,” Fahey said of Bell. “After the season, after he moved on and everything like that, I know he continued to put in a good word, because when they came down and a lot of the times when I was on the phone with them, they said that he was always talking about me and stuff like that. So I think he played another role into it.”
Fahey considers his biggest strengths as a quarterback to be his arm talent, accuracy and football IQ. His high school statistics back that up, as he completed 76.6% of his passes for 1,638 yards on just 137 attempts – nearly 12 yards per attempt – for 17 touchdowns and zero interceptions.
The four-star prospect currently holds a modest ranking of No. 357 overall (No. 25 quarterback) in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2026 recruiting class, but that’s partially because he hasn’t even been the full-time starter at Mission Viejo yet. After splitting snaps with San Diego State signee Draiden Trudeau for the past two seasons, Fahey will have the chance to fully lead the Diablos’ offense as a senior, and he’s eager to step up as a leader for his team in his final high school season.
“I'm really excited for our team this year and especially for myself, of course, it being my senior year and I'm being the only quarterback, that's super exciting. But I'm just really excited for the guys around me that are going to be able to step up this year,” Fahey said. “I mean, this spring and summer we've been doing really good. We've won two 7-on-7 tournaments. So I feel like our team's headed in the right direction, and it really does help when you have a bunch of dudes around you. Like, at my school, there's always good receivers and our coaches are absolutely phenomenal and stuff like that. So, I mean, that's what's really helped me a lot is the guys that have been around me and the guys performing that have really helped me out to get to this point, and I feel like with this year, with the guys that we have and the coaches that we have, that it’ll be a great year for us.”
Once he gets to Ohio State next year, Fahey will be eager to try to help the Buckeyes win another national championship and earn some victories against Michigan.
“Words can't even explain how excited I am to get in one of those atmosphere games and get the opportunity to be on the field and compete with those guys, because I know that rivalry goes back a long, long time, and that game means a whole lot,” Fahey said of the Michigan game. “So I'm super excited. Hopefully I get to go watch it this year, but if I don't, I'm going to be watching it on TV, of course, and I just kind of can't wait for the opportunity to be at that game where that's on the field or on the sideline getting ready to play that game. I just can't wait.”
