Ohio State’s first practices of 2026 are less than one week away.
After a two-month layoff following the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff quarterfinal loss to Miami, a new-look Ohio State team will take the field for 15 practices this spring, starting next Tuesday. The Buckeyes have aspirations of competing for a national championship once again, but there are plenty of questions they need to answer this spring as they replace more than half of their scholarship roster from last season. With that in mind, we’re taking a position-by-position look at how Ohio State’s roster has changed since last season, the biggest questions and position battles entering spring practice and the overall outlook for each position group ahead of next week’s start of spring.
Spring Previews
One position where the Buckeyes have stability entering 2026 is at quarterback, as Julian Sayin returns for his second year as Ohio State’s starter. But it’s still an important spring for the Buckeyes at the sport’s most important position as Sayin works to become a more complete quarterback while Tavien St. Clair looks to solidify his standing as Ohio State’s No. 2 QB and position himself as Sayin’s eventual successor.
Who’s Back
Julian Sayin (Starter in 2025), Tavien St. Clair (No. 3 QB in 2025)
For the first time in four years, Ohio State won’t have a starting quarterback competition this spring. Sayin returns as one of college football’s best quarterbacks after completing a school-record 77% of his passing attempts – the third-highest single-season completion percentage ever for an FBS quarterback – for 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2025.
Ryan Day believes Sayin, the only Heisman Trophy finalist from last season who’s still playing college football, will be the nation’s best quarterback in 2026. But there’s still plenty for Sayin to work on this spring – namely, seeing the middle of the field better and making more plays with his legs – as he and the Buckeyes look to bounce back from their disappointing end to 2025, in which they scored just 24 total points vs. Indiana and Miami.
“This is somebody who hasn't played a lot of football. It's his first year playing, and he competes. He works at it in the meeting room. What he does in terms of his preparation, what we put on his plate and getting us in and out of plays, protection checks, this guy here has got a very, very bright future ahead of him,” Ryan Day said after Ohio State’s loss to Miami. “I think Julian has a chance to be as good as he wants to be. Now he's got to learn from this, and that's a big part of playing quarterback. When you look at a lot of the guys who have success at the highest levels of college football, they have a lot of games under their belt. And Julian's got this now, this season to learn from and grow from, and he's going to come back even stronger next year.”
St. Clair – who, like Sayin, was a top-seven overall prospect in his recruiting class – enters his second year with the Buckeyes as Ohio State’s projected No. 2 quarterback in 2026. As Ohio State’s third-string quarterback last season, St. Clair made his only game appearance in a 70-0 win over Grambling State, completing no passes on two attempts.
Who’s New
Justyn Martin (Transfer), Luke Fahey (Freshman)
Ohio State added both a veteran transfer and a developmental prospect to its quarterback room this offseason to fill out its depth chart with its desired number of four scholarship passers.
Martin comes to Ohio State after one year at Maryland, having previously spent three years at UCLA. A four-star prospect out of high school, Martin has only one career start – completing 22 of 30 passing attempts for 167 yards with one touchdown in a 2024 UCLA loss to Penn State – but adds a veteran presence with Big Ten experience in a quarterback room that’s otherwise inexperienced outside of Sayin.
Fahey, a three-star prospect from Mission Viejo, California, joins the Buckeyes after a prolific high school career in which he completed 68.9% of his passing attempts for 7,021 yards and 68 touchdowns with only nine interceptions across four seasons. He’ll likely redshirt as a true freshman, but gives the Buckeyes another quarterback to develop for the future alongside St. Clair.
Who’s Gone
Lincoln Kienholz (Transfer), Eli Brickhandler (Senior)
Kienholz transferred to Louisville, where he’s expected to be the starter, after backing up Sayin in 2025. His departure clears the path for St. Clair to be Ohio State’s No. 2 quarterback in 2026, but leaves Sayin as the only returning quarterback who’s completed a pass for the Buckeyes.
Brickhandler, who joined the Buckeyes last offseason as a transfer from Houston Christian, saw no game action in his lone season as a Buckeye and announced in January that he was moving on from football.
The Big Question
How much improvement will Tavien St. Clair show this spring?
While Sayin’s continued development is Ohio State’s top quarterback priority for 2026, there’s only so much that he can really prove this spring. We already know he’s as gifted as any passer in college football; his running ability and decision-making under pressure won’t be fully tested until the season begins, as the Buckeyes will keep him in a black non-contact jersey to protect him from injury.
That said, the quarterback whose development will really be under the microscope this spring is St. Clair. While St. Clair is the most physically gifted quarterback on the roster, possessing an excellent combination of size, athleticism and arm strength, it was evident last offseason that he was still adjusting to the speed of the college game. Now that he’s the next man up behind Sayin, the Buckeyes need him to show he’s ready to play if called upon.
“Tavien is someone that really has to step up for us,” Day said on his radio show in January. “He's going to have to be right there behind Julian and be ready to go. The schedule that we're playing next year, as you guys know, you've seen what it looks like, and so Tavien's got to really take the next step.”
St. Clair can solidify himself as Ohio State’s backup quarterback for this season and as the Buckeyes’ likely starting quarterback in 2027 – assuming Sayin enters the 2027 NFL draft – if he performs up to his five-star potential this spring. If he still looks like a young quarterback learning the ropes, however, Ohio State will have to weigh whether he’s ready to be the No. 2 quarterback this year or if Martin should get a closer look for that role.
Battle to Watch
Justyn Martin vs. Luke Fahey
Assuming the backup quarterback job is ultimately St. Clair’s to lose, the most competitive spot on the quarterback depth chart this spring will be the third-string job, which Martin and Fahey will battle for in their first offseason as Buckeyes.
While Martin wasn’t brought in to compete for the starting job – at least not this year, as he’s expected to receive a sixth year of eligibility after playing in just one game due to injury last season – he’s more capable of actually playing for Ohio State than many of the other veteran transfer backup quarterbacks the Buckeyes have added in recent years. So while Brickhandler was never expected to see action in a non-emergency situation for Ohio State last year, Martin is the likely frontrunner to be the No. 3 quarterback in 2026.
That could change, though, if Fahey gets up to speed quickly and shows he deserves more reps early.
Ohio State isn’t planning for either Martin or Fahey to see regular playing time in 2026, but as Cardale Jones’ legendary run to a national championship in 2014 proved, the third-string quarterback could end up being more important than anyone anticipates. As such, Ohio State will look to put Martin and Fahey in plenty of competitive situations this spring to evaluate which one of them would be the better option to lead Ohio State’s offense this season if needed.
Overall Pre-Spring Outlook
It’s always a big advantage to have a returning starter at quarterback, especially when that returning starter has already set a school record and been a Heisman finalist. The Buckeyes already know they have one of college football’s best quarterbacks entering 2026 – now, the question is just how much better he can become with a year of experience under his belt.
In terms of recruiting pedigree, no team in the country has a more talented pair of quarterbacks leading its depth chart than Ohio State has in Sayin and St. Clair. As of now, St. Clair remains completely unproven – but the same was true of Sayin at this time a year ago. And St. Clair will have far more opportunities to show what he can do with the first and second units this spring after taking mostly third-string reps as a true freshman last spring.
With Martin and Fahey providing additional depth behind them, Ohio State’s quarterback room stands tall as one of the nation’s best. The return of Sayin is one of the biggest reasons why the Buckeyes are projected as a top national championship contender in 2026, but this spring will be all about honing the finer details of his game that will be necessary for success against top defenses.
