Former Buckeyes HC Urban Meyer is directly questioning Ryan Day’s handling of Ohio State QB Tavien St. Clair
Ohio State is riding with QB Luke Fahey once again in Week 11 against Northwestern. Still, Urban Meyer is confused on what the plan has been with QB Tavien St. Clair.
A lot of the chatter around the Ohio State Buckeyes has centered on the quarterback position since Julian Sayin went down with a season-ending injury against the Indiana Hoosiers. Ohio State’s season has unraveled from that point with losses to USC and Oregon, and freshman quarterback Luke Fahey started both of those games.
Fahey wasn’t the reason the Buckeyes lost either game. Still, there’s no reason to act like he played well and pushed the team toward a win in either one. That has put the spotlight on former 5-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair and how he hasn’t been able to get on the field.
Tavien St. Clair has barely seen the field at Ohio State
Fahey won the backup quarterback battle over St. Clair back in fall camp. That was a surprise at the time. St. Clair was a highly touted recruit with all the physical tools you could want in a quarterback, standing 6-foot-4 with a big arm. Losing the backup job meant he didn’t put himself in position to be Ohio State’s future starter.
With how the last couple of games have gone, the Buckeyes’ coaching staff has taken plenty of criticism for not getting St. Clair into games. The idea is simple: at least get him some live reps and see if he can move the offense better than Fahey has so far.
St. Clair has played in just two games, both early in the season. He’s attempted only seven passes, completing five of them for 52 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. His last game action came in Week 3 against Kent State in a 59-3 win.
With how the season has played out, the Ohio native looks to be all but trending toward the transfer portal since he isn’t getting on the field or looking like a future part of the quarterback room.
Urban Meyer questions the Buckeyes’ approach
Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is confused by how the situation has been handled and why St. Clair isn’t getting out there. On a recent episode of The Triple Option podcast, Meyer said:
“I thought [Luke Fahey] played OK against USC,” Meyer stated. “There were some misfires and he just looked a little out of place against Oregon.”
“Quarterback is the one position where there’s only one thing that matters, and that’s to get as much playing time as possible. The rest of the season, you’re riding Luke [Fahey], because you did not get [Tavien St. Clair] reps when you probably could’ve.”
Meyer is all but questioning how Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s staff has handled St. Clair. The Buckeyes haven’t given him a single game rep since the Kent State blowout. He also didn’t see the field against USC or Oregon, two games where Ohio State was thoroughly beaten.
The Oregon game was out of hand in the fourth quarter. Even then, St. Clair couldn’t get on the field.
A big what-if is taking shape in Columbus
This is clearly trending toward a big what-if situation with St. Clair. It would be a real surprise if he’s on Ohio State’s roster next season.
Holding him out has been a head-scratcher considering he did take first team reps with the team during the bye week. The Buckeyes are 6-3 and likely aren’t making the College Football Playoff. With the stakes this season shrinking, there’s a case that the remaining games are the best chance Ohio State has to find out what it has in St. Clair.
Fahey is once again the starter on Saturday against Northwestern. From there, we’ll see if St. Clair gets into that game, or the last two regular season games remaining against Nebraska and Michigan.
