Tavien St. Clair came to Ohio State with a much larger pedigree than Luke Fahey.
St. Clair is a 6-foot-4 QB prototype, and he’s an Ohio kid for good measure — from Bellefontaine.
Despite that, with Julian Sayin out “indefinitely” with his right shoulder injury, the Buckeyes may start Fahey instead of St. Clair.
Fahey finished the win at Indiana last Saturday, and while Ohio State doesn’t have a game this upcoming Saturday, they’ll head to USC to play out west after the bye week.
The assumption has been that Fahey will start, but it’s not totally out of St. Clair’s grasp yet.
Tavien St. Clair Chances
Ohio State beat writer Jeff Gilbert of Press Pros Magazine provides an interesting look in a new article about which quarterback will get the nod going forward.
This is part of what Gilbert wrote about the situation:
“We need both the guys to practice really well, prepare, and understand that we’re going to need them to win a championship,” Day said. “It’s obviously a big decision, but we’ll take a lot of input. But ultimately, I’ll make the final decision as we enter the next week.”
Is Day holding back on naming a starter to create more competition? He does that in the spring and fall camp, but that doesn’t feel like the move here. He plays a game a week from Saturday. This is not the time to waste practice reps on someone you know won’t play.
While it would be more beneficial from a reps standpoint to already know who the starter will be, this is good news for the Buckeyes. St. Clair, apparently, is closer to being ready to play than we were led to believe.
“Closer to being ready to play than we were led to believe” is about as good as it’s going to get right now for St. Clair as Ohio State keeps things close to the vest.
“If Fahey starts and struggles or gets hurt, the vibe is that St. Clair might be ready to play at just about the same level as Fahey, maybe higher,” Gilbert writes.
From a tools perspective, St. Clair certainly seems to have the edge.
“The stature between the 5-foot-11 Fahey and the 6-4 St. Clair is obvious,” Gilbert writes. “But day after day in practice, Fahey rose above that five-inch height difference, and the safe bet is he will continue to do so.”
When’s Ohio State’s Next Game?
Ohio State won’t play on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Their next game after the bye is at USC on Saturday, Oct. 31 — Halloween, and the first career start for either Fahey or St. Clair.
Ohio State’s Chances of Playing Tavien St. Clair at QB Revealed