This seemed like the reason the Ohio State Buckeyes recruited Tavien St. Clair from Bellefontaine, Ohio.
The five-star quarterback had teams all across the country interested, but OSU’s pursuit would’ve been about giving it the next star QB to play in Columbus — and the potential heir to Julian Sayin.
It isn’t playing out that way, though.
Sayin is injured, out “indefinitely,” and yet it doesn’t appear that St. Clair is going to get the nod as the starting quarterback on Saturday at USC anyway.
Why Isn’t Tavien St. Clair Ohio State’s Next QB Up?
It appears that St. Clair at some point was leapfrogged on the depth chart by true freshman Luke Fahey, a three-star recruit from California’s powerhouse Mission Viejo High School.
The latest reports indicate that Fahey will start at USC, not St. Clair.
Ohio State is expected to start true freshman Luke Fahey at quarterback tomorrow against USC, sources tell @CBSSports.
Was the clear favorite in the competition with sophomore Tavien St. Clair to be Ohio State’s new starter with Julian Sayin now injured but head coach Ryan Day has continued to decline to name a starter. However, it is expected to be Fahey.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) October 31, 2026
St. Clair has had ample opportunities over the last two seasons to endear himself to the Ohio State coaching staff.
But when the opportunity came, it was Fahey who was the man Ohio State trusted with its season in his hands, not St. Clair.
Apparently the body of evidence over the last year-plus hasn’t been good enough from St. Clair.
Tavien St. Clair’s Future
If St. Clair indeed sits behind Fahey, maybe for the rest of the season, his future in Columbus is very much in doubt.
He was the in-state recruit who stayed home — something that Mentor’s Drew Allar and Findlay’s Ryan Montgomery didn’t do when they went to Penn State and Georgia, respectively.
If Ohio State loses St. Clair to the transfer portal — which seems more and more likely by the day — they’re losing more than just him. They’re losing the Buckeye State QB pipeline.
“And while St. Clair raised some eyebrows when the Buckeyes recruited him, they had no choice,” writes Sonny Fulks of Press Pros Magazine. “You either take the state’s five-star quarterback who can throw the ball seventy five yards, or you risk losing the next Ohio five-star quarterback who comes along. Why? Because of perception. The coach thinks that what comes out of California, or Texas, or Florida is better because he assumes they played against better competition – better than St. Clair played against in the Central Buckeye Conference. And it’s hard to disavow. Action speaks louder than words. It’s how it’s always worked. ‘He thinks our guy isn’t good enough to play for Ohio State.’ Politics. You have to offer and sign him, because he might go to Michigan or Penn State. And St. Clair had that choice.”
St. Clair’s next choice, if he doesn’t start the rest of the way, will be about the transfer portal. And the next quarterback like St. Clair that comes along may think twice about the Buckeyes.
Ohio State’s Tavien St. Clair Future in Doubt