After Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and the rest of the Buckeyes built a 39-point lead with less than three quarters to go in a romp at Ballivus State on Sept. 5, all that was left for the red and gray faithful guard was Sayin’s heir, Tavien St. Clair.
Or so they thought.
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St. Clair, a sophomore and former five-star recruit who was the Rivals industry’s No. 3 QB prospect in the 2025 class, was not Ohio State’s first non-sign-leader to mop-up the job.
It was Lucas Fahey, a freshman 5-footer who earned just three stars as a prospect in Mission Viejo, California, two fewer than the prototypical St. Clair location. It was an early, but incredibly telling, sign from the Buckeyes’ quarterback camera.
The team’s position as a ranked player in the national spotlight was set back more than a month later when Sayin, a Heisman Trophy finalist last season, suffered a serious injury to his throwing arm in a top-five performance against Indiana.
Fahey, who had held his place at the back, took it again, this time with many eyes on him. He wasn’t asked to do much as he grabbed the Buckeyes’ lead and made the reigning Hoosiers win from the national championship.
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Saturday at USC, though Fahey is the QB1 for the No. 2 team in the nation. Now, with Sayin out indefinitely — apparently for the rest of the 2026 campaign — the fate of Ohio State’s season rests in the hands of a first-year college quarterback who wasn’t in most leagues until this month.
Carl Dies joined his team on his way to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the intervening week after the nail-biter in Bloomington. That gave head coach Ryan Day time to get things going at quarterback, and for Fahey and St. Clair to get a lot of needed reps with the offense.
On October 20, during that week, Day officially left St. Clair’s door open to challenge Fahey for the job.
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“I think going into the last few games, Luke Tavien is going to be ahead from what we’ve seen,” Day said at the time, per WBNS 10 TV.
“But now that we have a bye week, these guys are both going to get a lot of reps. … We’re playing the guy that gives us the best chance to win.”
These days of the week are to be kept so vague. He told reporters that both Fahey and St. Clair is ready to go this weekend.
“I’m not going to do it,” Day said when asked if he was going to name a quarterback. “But both guys had a good week in practice, and I think they’ll both be ready to play. And I think the guys on the team are confident that if they’re both put into the game, they can do their job. So we’ll prepare, and we’ll see how Saturday goes.”
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While Ohio State’s offense is still loaded — most notably, Smith is a Heisman contender — starting a new, inexperienced quarterback in the middle of the season is never easy.
What’s more, the Buckeyes came into this week knowing they would also be losing running back Ja’Kobi Jackson, a Florida transfer who led the team with 6 yards per carry but is now reportedly out of action.
Fahey has a moxie about him.
Prior to Saturday, much of the college football world either Fahey or St. Clair had not seen it. Fahey had four appearances under his belt, completing 6-14 passes for 203 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
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St. Clair — a 235-pound passer from near Bellefontaine, Ohio — had played in two games, going 5 of 7 for 52 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 pick to his name.
But those two had substantially more time to prove themselves on the field, and Fahey’s writer seemed to win in that environment.
“He’s a very hard worker. He puts in a lot of hours. He’s very competitive,” Day said of Fahey last week, per WBNS 10 TV. “He’s got moxie about him. He’s got a fight about him. We’re always looking for quarterbacks who are just obsessed with the big game, and I think when you go around Luke, you can quickly see how much he’s into it.
“He puts a lot of work into it. You see when he’s in the preseason or the offseason, he’s out here in the morning with the receivers, and he’s going through the scripts. And you see him in the room, putting in a lot of work, learning the plays. When he gets down there, he’s got it. And the linemen feel it.”
Fahey’s competitiveness was a talking point in Columbus this week, especially after a clip of him delivering an inspirational speech at Mission Viejo High School Day.
Mission Viejo High School, by the way, is about an hour’s drive from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where Fahey made his first career start Saturday.
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Fahey threw for more than 7,000 yards in high school, including a 290.8 average in his senior season. As a starter his sophomore year, he led Mission Viejo to the CIF State Division I-AA championship title.
While this week was for a return, the Buckeyes suit up was a dream come true for Fahey. Her grandparents met as student workers in Ohio’s main library in the 1950s, as reported by The Columbus Express. Their affinity for the Buckeyes spans generations, as Fahey grew up in the middle of the team to see himself playing.