No two quarterback competitions are the same. But when asked which one he’s overseen reminds him of this year’s battle between Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz, Ryan Day had an answer ready.
“With Dwayne (Haskins) and Joe (Burrow), it was similar just in terms of the skill sets and their makeups,” Day said. “And so it's interesting to see those two guys compete with each other. Nothing is exactly the same. But it's similar in certain ways. But ultimately, it comes down to how they perform on the field.”
As Ohio State marches closer to a decision at quarterback, Buckeye fans can only hope that Sayin or Kienholz’s college career goes as well as Haskins and Burrow’s did. Both men were first-round NFL draft picks, after all; may Haskins rest in peace.
“I think everything gets ramped up when you get to the preseason,” Day said. “We're installing in the spring. It's offense versus defense, and not every play is designed to attack certain coverages and things like that. You want to do that a little bit when you get into the preseason to see how they're able to respond to that and handle that and be at competitive excellence. And so, it's much different when you're just doing seven-on-seven and throwing and catching the ball as opposed to everything that comes with the game planning.
“As you find yourself later and later into the preseason, guys have seen routes before, they've seen things. So you have to adjust, and then you’ve got to go put it on the field in scrimmage settings. And so it's more game-like, and we want to see guys perform.”
Even without the personal knowledge of all four men that Day possesses, the parallels Burrow and Haskins have with Kienholz and Sayin seven years apart from their competitions are apparent.
Kienholz is Burrow, the quarterback with an extra year of experience under his belt. Kienholz was a three-sport superstar, first-team All-State in football, basketball and baseball. Burrow, too, was an All-State basketball and, of course, football player, plus a star on the diamond before he put down his bat while entering high school. Both are relentless competitors.
What stood out watching both Sayin and Haskins in the offseasons of their bouts was their natural arm talent. Haskins had one of the strongest cannons attached to his right shoulder in team history. That was clear from his first experience relieving an injured J.T. Barrett against Michigan in 2017 through spring practice, where he effectively won the job as Burrow transferred to LSU following the 2018 spring game.
Sayin, a five-star high school prospect, has a lightning-quick release with zip that even a non-coach can recognize. But there’s a lot more to quarterbacking than arm talent. Burrow’s defining traits that won him a Heisman Trophy and have made him one of the NFL’s premier passers aren’t in the realm of natural arm talent. His ability to read defenses, competitive fire and impeccable accuracy are his separators.
Those are the areas where Day has seen the most growth from Sayin this offseason.
“Decision-making, command of the huddle, timing, anticipating as opposed to reacting,” Day said. “I think overall, just you feel like when somebody has taken a certain amount of reps, you want to see the progression and improvement. I think we're seeing that.”
Regardless of past parallels, Day is glad that he’s able to focus reps down to two players. That wasn’t the case last spring when Will Howard was breaking into the offense and competing with Devin Brown and Sayin, with Kienholz and freshman Air Noland bringing up the rear.
“Last year, there were five quarterbacks, so those snaps got spread pretty thin,” Day said. “Now (Julian) and Lincoln are getting a lot of reps, and so they're improving. And that's, again, you talk about a pro or a player, a pro remembers because he's done it before, a player is learning.”
There’s added urgency to name a starter and get him acclimated this preseason, given Ohio State’s Week 1 opponent. In case you’ve been camping in a cave the past eight months, that opponent is No. 1 Texas. It’s the first-ever season-opener between the top two teams in the Coaches Poll.
For that reason, Day told the Big Ten Fall Camp Tour that he wants to figure out his starter “a couple weeks” before the Buckeyes face the Longhorns. Ohio State plays its critical second intrasquad scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday, two weeks to the day before the rematch of last year’s CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl. His press conference next Monday is a likely announcement slot. But he wants both men prepared in case the other goes down.
“We're trying to get both guys ready to go win the game,” Day said. “I think we have to have them both ready to play in that first game. And then again, as we get closer here, we'll name a starter and go from there. But we're going to need them both.”
“You talk about a pro or a player, a pro remembers because he's done it before, a player is learning.”– Ryan Day
Day gave a loose indication this past Monday that there might be some separation coming off of Ohio State’s first scrimmage. He sees it as close, but he and his staff got “more and more information” on where both quarterbacks stand.
“There were positives on both ends, there were negatives on both ends,” Day said. “I won't predict when we'll make this decision, but we're getting more and more information that we need to make a decision. Where it's at now, we'll let it continue to play out.”
Whoever is thrown into the fire at noon on FOX Aug. 30, Day wants him to hold the utmost faith in himself. Burrow and Haskins learned quickly and didn’t let mistakes slow them down, but nobody is refined at the beginning. And if they can execute in camp, they can execute on fall Saturdays.
“I try to tell these guys all the time, everybody had to do it for the first time,” Day said. “Everybody had that start, and you just, you go. And sometimes you never feel like you're ready. You just got to go do it. And if you can do it consistently against the guys that we’re doing it (against) every day in practice, you got to have confidence knowing you can do it against the opponent because we have as good of players as anybody in the country.”
