Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the Buckeyes we expect to excel this season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Players to Watch” articles here.
Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.
In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.
Today’s Question: Which Ohio State true freshman are you most excited to watch this season?
Jami’s Take: Quincy Porter
There’s a new kid on the block at “Wide Receiver U,” and if spring practice was any indication, you should make note of the name Quincy Porter.
At 6-4, 205 pounds, Porter joins the ranks of Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, and more in Brian Hartline’s stacked receiver room, and if spring practice is any indication, Porter can hold his own even as a freshman.
Last season, as a high school senior at Bergen Catholic in Oradell, New Jersey, Porter averaged 17.0 yards per carry, amassing 969 yards and 11 touchdowns on 57 passes, helping to lead his team to a state title. He amassed an identical number of yards in his junior season, on 16 fewer passes and with five additional touchdowns. A multi-sport athlete, Porter also ran track and field in high school.
His impressive football stats made him a five-star prospect, with 247Sports ranking him as the No. 23 player in the country and the No. 5 wide receiver in the 2025 class. 247Sports’ Andrew Ivins even predicted Porter would be a future first-round NFL Draft pick, saying there is “no shortage of potential.”
Porter hit the ground running in spring practice, becoming the only freshman to shed his black stripe, a tradition started by Urban Meyer meant to signify that a newcomer has proven themselves to be a true Buckeye ready to play for the team. It took him just 11 practices.
Wide receivers coach Brian Hartline cited Porter’s consistency and ability to make big plays as a driving force for the removal of the black stripe—and mentioned that Porter’s peers had started to demand that the stripe be removed.
Day added that Porter, who has been compared to the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr., was making “a lot of contested catches,” ones that stood out even at the team’s most competitive practices.
He looked great in the spring game as well, netting 50 yards on 4 catches.
While losing your black stripe or playing well in the spring game aren’t always the best indicators of someone’s success as a freshman, especially as a member of a receiver room with this much power, in Porter’s case, he takes his job seriously. This bodes well for him this season and throughout his career.
It remains to be seen how much playing time we can expect from him, since Smith now has a year of experience under his belt, with a talent that seems even more freakish by the minute. But Porter was in the two-deep for most of spring practice and still managed to establish himself as someone who can contribute to the team in a meaningful way.
Will he see regular playing time once the season kicks off in earnest? Most likely, no. But it’s not stopping him from setting lofty goals for himself, and it doesn’t mean he won’t find ways to establish himself as a star-in-the-making. He’s willing to block, he’s able to move the chains, and he’s hungry to make a name for himself.
With all of this in mind, all signs point to a strong freshman season from a player we should be paying attention to. I, for one, am excited to sit back and watch.
Matt’s Take: Tavien St. Clair
Look, I get it, going for the true freshman quarterback is the basest level of college football commentary, I know. But, guys, what if he is the greatest QB of all time? I know that as Buckeye fans, we have a tendency to get overexcited and put waaaaaaay too much pressure on young players before they’ve even really begun their collegiate careers. But it’s an endearing kind of pressure, right?
Tavien St. Clair comes to Columbus as the No. 7 player in 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 3 quarterback in the country for the 2025 recruiting cycle. He is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, and while he needs to get accustomed to more complex offenses than what he ran at Bellefontaine High School, scouts already believe that he has the tools to be a multi-year starter for the Buckeyes and an NFL Draft pick.
But here’s the real reason that I am curious about St. Clair. As an Ohio kid, he committed to the Buckeyes in June 2023. At that point, Julian Sayin was still an Alabama commit, but by the time that St. Clair and the rest of the 2025 class signed their letters of intent, he knew that the No. 6 player and No. 1 quarterback from the 2024 class was already in the fold. And yet, St. Clair stayed true to his pledge to the team he grew up rooting for.
Of course, it is always nice to have multiple elite-level quarterbacks on the roster, but ideally, you would like them to be spaced out by a couple of years, so that you can get two years of starting time from them before they go pro after their third season. There’s no reason to presume that, barring injury, anyone other than Sayin is going to start behind center this fall as a true sophomore. So, he would be the presumed starter heading into the 2026 season as well, and St. Clair would have one year of experience as a backup.
The question then becomes if that is for there to be a legitimate competition between the two a year from now. Will St. Clair have grown enough to erase the year of experience that Sayin has on him? Or, will Sayin lead the team to another national title, guaranteeing him the starting spot for one more year?
Obviously, we don’t yet have the answers to those questions, but the cornucopia of talent in the OSU QB room is exciting, and whether it’s one year, two years, or, heck, even three years, I’m excited to get a first glimpse at what future Ohio State starter Tavien St. Clair looks like on the field.