The college football off-season is reaching its standstill.
Still, pundits across the country are already beginning to forecast what each of the Power Four conferences' quarterback rooms are going to look like come August.
This includes the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, who are still determining which signal-caller replaces Will Howard. Howard's lone season in Columbus saw him not only carry the Buckeyes to the top of the sport, but he also showcased his talent in accuracy and efficiency.
Howard put up stellar numbers all year with 35 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. His best statistical game came in a key spot, a 41-21 revenge win against the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl, where he put together a 319-yard, three-touchdown performance without a turnover.
The Sporting News' Bill Bender ranked all 18 projected Big Ten starters. In doing so, despite all three Buckeyes projected starters having next-to-no experience in big games, Bender wrote Wednesday it's good enough for the No. 2 spot in the conference behind Penn State, which returns Drew Allar.
"There is a three-way quarterback battle to replace Will Howard, who went on a tear in the national championship run at the College Football Playoff," Bender wrote. "Devin Brown transferred to Cal, and Air Noland transferred to South Carolina. Sayin – a redshirt freshman who transferred from Alabama after Nick Saban retired – was a five-star coming out of high school."
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All that said, Bender is still sticking with the notion Day isn't rushed to make a decision regarding who the starter will be, whether it's Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz, or highly-touted prospect Tavian St. Clair.
"Kienholz was the third-string quarterback last season behind Devin Brown," Bender wrote. "Kienholz has made a push for the starting job in spring practice, and coach Ryan Day likely will wait until fall camp to name a starter."
As of last month, Day was candid in his assessment of the quarterbacks. There appears to be a clear favorite despite it still being early, at least regarding how the spring game played out.
"I felt like Lincoln, going into the spring game, was a little bit ahead of Julian," Day told reporters. And then I thought, if you just watch the game, Julian probably performed a little bit better than Lincoln during the spring game. And here we are. So going back through, watch the spring practices, look at the grades, they're very similar. So we'll take it into the summer. And we'll let them play.”
Day added he wants to ensure he gets the position correct, given the league has seen an uptick in talent. By the time the regular-season draws closer to its conclusion, the Buckeyes will have played Allar, and, in all likelihood, Michigan's Bryce Underwood.
“I think there has been progress made,” Day said. “I think the next couple of months, those guys coming in here and continuing to get stronger and faster and getting on the film, now they have cut-ups that they can watch to grow from, and then as we all know, the summer will be huge. I'm encouraged with what we saw coming out [of spring]."
For now, whoever wins the job will have major shoes to fill.