A few days after scarlet and gray confetti fell from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in honor of Ohio State winning the national championship, Lincoln Kienholz started making an offseason checklist for himself.
Entering his third season in Columbus, the South Dakota resident knew he’d have his first real shot at winning Ohio State’s starting quarterback role and wanted to be prepared for it in every possible way. It started with a plan to improve his athleticism and get bigger, faster and stronger. He also attacked the film room and studied Ohio State’s offense all offseason, along with OSU’s other scholarship quarterbacks.
When the summer ended and fall camp began, Kienholz was honored as one of eight Iron Buckeyes for his progress throughout the summer.
“It means a lot,” Kienholz said of earning Iron Buckeye status honors. “I think it's something that everyone on our team should strive for. It's something that I think is probably the biggest honor in the program, especially in the offseason. It definitely means a lot.”
When weighing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the signal-callers vying for the starting gig, it’s clear Kienholz’s best asset is his athleticism, as he’s an effective runner at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds.
“I think it just shows that I put in some work in the offseason,” Kienholz said of his frame. “I mean, in the weight room, also on the field. Just got to go out there and be my best and just hopefully prove to my teammates that my leadership is there as well.”
Kienholz’s lone snaps in meaningful action in his first two years at Ohio State came under less than ideal circumstances, as he played in the majority of the Cotton Bowl two seasons ago following an injury to Devin Brown. Leading up to that game, Brown had taken the majority of the reps in practice, so the eventual 14-3 loss to Missouri was a true baptism by fire. Last week, Kienholz acknowledged he was unfamiliar with how protections fully worked in that setting, but his grasp of the offense (and protections, of course) has evolved drastically since then.
“I mean, that was almost three years ago, so I think I just have more experience,” Kienholz said. “I put in time in the offseason, film study, weight room, just getting myself ready for a good situation.”
Both quarterbacks have had their moments throughout fall camp, but the signal-caller competition is drawing to a close. Day said last week that he’s been pleased with the progress from both Kienholz and Julian Sayin so far through fall camp, but hopes to pick a starter by the beginning of next week.
In the three practices open to the media to begin fall camp, Kienholz thrived the most in red zone drills, which presents Ryan Day with an interesting possibility of deploying the South Dakota gunsligner in the red zone in certain packages this season if he doesn’t win the job outright.
“I think being an athlete kind of shows that if something were to happen and I need to go in or be the guy, I think just stuff like that, they can rely on me just being an athlete and going to make plays,” Kienholz said.
Ohio State quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler is impressed Kienholz earned Iron Buckeye honors this offseason, but he’s also pleased with how he’s progressed in the mental side of the game.
“On top of that, we've seen him grow as a leader,” Fessler said. “He's more vocal. His presence is felt. I think he's playing with a little bit of an edge to him, which is good to see. I think you have to play that position with a little bit of an edge without ever getting too high or too low, and that's contagious. As far as mechanically it goes, we're definitely seeing Lincoln get the ball out quickly. I think he's accurate. I think that his base has improved. There's been a couple of things that in the spring he was working on with his footwork, and we've seen some drastic improvements that way.”
