Ohio State Buckeyes QB Might Be Making a Push for the Starting Job

It’s only April, but this quarterback is making a push to take over the starting job and be the guy next year for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Anthony Moeglin | Apr 6, 2025

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Lincoln Kienholz (3) throws during spring football practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in Columbus on March 19, 2025. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Saturday’s spring practice for the Ohio State Buckeyes was fully open to students and media. Typically, media members cannot view an entire practice, but Saturday had more of a scrimmage feel to it and many were allowed to watch and record what they saw.

Among many storylines that surfaced from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the top one is the surge that Lincoln Kienholz has made in winning the quarterback job. The feeling to this point is that the quarterback job is Julian Sayin’s to lose, but the longest-tenured Buckeye in that room is making his presence known.

The last time that Buckeyes fans saw Kienholz was in a backup capacity at the Cotton Bowl two seasons ago against Missouri. In that game, then starter Devin Brown was injured on the first drive and the true freshman was thrust into action.

Lincoln Kienholz touchdown pass to Carnell Tate 👀.

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Kienholz looked like a true freshman playing for a team that had nothing to play for. He finished the day 6-for-17 for 86 yards and one lost fumble in the 14-3 loss to the Tigers.

That lone performance has stuck on the minds of many Buckeyes fans, but Kienholz brings so much more to the table.

In high school, he was a three-sport star from South Dakota. He was so good as a baseball player that he decided against enrolling at Ohio State early in the spring so that he could compete with his high school baseball team.

Not only was he a great player on the diamond, but he could also hold his own on the basketball court. He averaged nearly 20 points and seven rebounds per game in his junior season.

Dec 29, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Lincoln Kienholz (12) motions at the line of scrimmage during the second quarter of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic against the Missouri Tigers at AT&T Stadium. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

That is all to say that he is an incredible athlete. He can be a threat in the run game along with doing his job spreading the ball to the incredible receivers that Ohio State has.

If Keinholz is able to continue his good play throughout the offseason and win the starting job, he will be a completely different player than what he was in the Missouri game. He has the tools to take the baton from Will Howard and hold the Ohio State offense to the standard that has been set.

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