'He's an Anomaly': How does Ohio State Commit Tavien St. Clair Compare to Dylan Raiola?

According to coaches from the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles, Ohio State QB commit Tavien St. Clair is a truly special talent.

Tavien St. Clair / Photo Credit: Brooks Austin

The Ohio State Buckeyes landed arguably their biggest commitment of the 2025 class almost a year ago last summer, when five-star QB Tavien St. Clair committed in June of 2023.

However, at the time, it was unclear exactly what they Buckeyes had just landed.

Upon his commitment, St. Clair ranked as the No. 25 quarterback and the No. 10 player in the state of Ohio in the class of 2025 per 247Sports. Since then, he has shot up the charts, to the point where he now ranks as the No. 2 overall player in the country, the No. 2 QB, and the No. 1 player in the state.

And after an extremely impressive outing against the best of the best at the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles, it is clear that he deserves that rankings.

But what caused such a rise in St. Clair's stock? According to various Elite 11 coaches in a recent interview with The Athletic, he seems to be unlike anything they have ever seen before at the position.

Tavien St. Clair / Photo Credit: Brooks Austin

“He is an anomaly,” Elite 11 coach Yogi Roth said to the Athletic “He’s from an hour away from Ohio State, one of the greatest schools in the history of the game, and he’s never had a personal QB coach. He’s done it in a way I haven’t heard about in, like, 20 years.”

However, the Elite 11 coaches didn't stop there.

They also gave The Athletic a comparison between St. Clair and former Ohio State commit (and now Nebraska QB) Dylan Raiola.

Raiola, of course, was arguably the biggest piece of the Buckeyes 2024 class before his sudden and surprising de-commitment in favor of the Georgia Bulldogs. He then de-committed from Georgia just before the early signing period in favor of the Cornhuskers.

“I think he’s a more gifted passer than Raiola by a little bit,” another coach said about St. Clair. “Dylan was more casual and cool. He looked like a grown man who you could tell had watched hours and hours of (Patrick) Mahomes and was like this big middle infielder slinging it around. Tavien looked more intentional.”

Another coach agreed with that sentiment, going as far to say that not only is St. Clair's arm more talented than that of Raiola, but he is also coming to Columbus in a much better situation in terms of pressure and expectations than that of Raiola.

In other words, St. Clair is going to have more time to develop himself. Meanwhile, Raiola is about to be thrown straight into the deep end in Lincoln, where he is being counted on as the savior of the Cornhuskers program.

“I think Tavien had the best arm here,” another coach told the Athletic. “I think (his arm’s) a little better than Raiola’s, and he’ll be under less of a microscope in his situation. He can make some mistakes without everyone looking for him to be the savior of the program without a lot of good players around him.”

At the end of the day, only time will tell if St. Clair will be able to live up to the lofty expectations that come with being the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

In fact, the same holds true for Raiola in Lincoln.

Based on the current talent situation in Columbus, and the fact that he has thrown for over 8,000 yards and has 83 total touchdowns in three seasons at Bellefontaine, however, St. Clair will have as good a chance as any QB in the past to succeed at Ohio State.