Buckeyes Now

Ohio State QB Commit Tavien St. Clair Dominates Day 1 of Elite 11 Finals

Ohio State Buckeyes QB commit Tavien St. Clair showed up in a big way on Day 1 of the Elite 11 Finals.

Matt Galatzan

Recruit Tavien St. Clair watches Ohio State warm up before playing Penn State Oct. 21, 2023 at Ohio Stadium.
Recruit Tavien St. Clair watches Ohio State warm up before playing Penn State Oct. 21, 2023 at Ohio Stadium. / Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA
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LOS ANGELES, CA - Five-star Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback commit Tavien St. Clair came into the Elite 11 finals as one of the favorites to take home the camp MVP award.

And after Day 1, he could be well on his way to doing so, coming in at No. 1 in the Day 1 rankings.

From the jump, St. Clair shined amongst a crowd of extremely talented quarterbacks with his elite arm strength and accuracy. Time and time again his throws were on point and accurate while looking light on his feet.

He was particularly impressive with his intermediate and deep throws at every station, showing his versatility in a variety of situations. That consistency never truly wained either, with St. Clair's throws looking effortless from the first to the last.

He was so on point, in fact, that he greatly overshadowed many of the other highly touted QBs - including other five-stars such as Julian Lewis and Matt Zollers.

That was up until the rail shot challenge, which was the last competition of the day. The challenge, which consisted of a rail-shot pass to the left side of the field against Cover 2 thrown without loft in the ball on a five-step drop, is one of the more difficult throws of the camp.

St. Clair was knocked out in the first round of the challenge, throwing the lone blemish on his day, with five-star Texas A&M commit Husan Longstreet and un-committed three-star Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele battling it out until the end. The two would eventually tie the rail-shot, giving them each a substantial boost in the camp overall.

Despite that late disappointment, one thing remained clear - St. Clair's standing as the nation's No. 2 QB in the 2025 class is certainly warranted, and he has certainly put him in a great position heading into Day 2.

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Matt Galatzan
MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Publisher of LonghornsCountry.com, AllAggies.com, and the Managing Editor of BuckeyesNow.com and TheGroveReport.com He is also the Editor-In-Chief of RamDigest.com and TexansDaily.com. Galatzan graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry under Mike Fisher at DallasBasketball.com in 2014, which at the time was part of the 247Sports network. He also spent two years covering the SMU Mustangs for PonyStampede.com on the 247Sports network. When DallasBasketball.com and CowboysCountry.com moved over to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, Galatzan followed suit, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of LonghornsCountry.com and AllAggies.com a year later. Through the years, Galatzan has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, former Longhorns players Dan Neil and Phil Dawson, and many other recruits, and current/former players for each of the teams he has covered. Galatzan is also a full-time employee in the digital media department for Audacy and KRLD FM's 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, which is the official radio home of the Dallas Cowboys. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan For any inquiries, please email matt.galatzan@gmail.com

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