How Much Could Ohio State's Offense Have to Change If Tavien St. Clair is the Quarterback?

If the Ohio State quarterback job does go to the redshirt freshman signal caller from Bellefontaine, then look out, the Buckeyes could really unlock another level to their offensive attack.

It's fascinating because, for whatever reason, since fall camp began, St. Clair has clearly fallen out of favor with his head coach, Ryan Day. St. Clair had a decent showing in the Spring Game and was clearly the number two guy behind Julian Sayin.

From my vantage point, I even question whether St. Clair would get the opportunity to push Sayin for the starting position. That never materialized, and the opposite came to fruition. 

St. Clair was mercilessly passed over by Luke Fahey for the backup quarterback position, and he was slotted down as the third quarterback on the roster. 

Now, there could be an actual football reason for this, and that is likely why, when Sayin went down, Day opened up the quarterback competition again during the bye week as the Buckeyes look to identify whoever is going to take over for Julian Sayin for the USC game.

The football rationale that could make sense is that St. Clair is made in a completely different mold than Julian Sayin is as a player. Sayin is a quarterback who succeeds in structure. His timing is elite, and he can process quickly. Fahey is built in a similar mold to Sayin, and that could be a very legitimate reason as to why the Buckeyes go to him second.

St. Clair had a week to prove to the day and the staff that he was actually the man for the job. If he was able to do that, the Buckeyes' offense could go to yet another level. 

St. Clair is a physically intimidating quarterback. He stands at 6'4" and weighs in at 235 pounds. He has an arm that can reach every single spot on the field and there is no throw that he cannot make.

In the limited reps that we saw of him during the spring game, the Buckeyes experimented a lot with putting him on the move a little bit, with some half-roll and full-roll stuff. He found a lot of success in that game.

In the attempts that he has had during this season, they have kept him inside the pocket in a more traditional attack. Context is important there, as he has only been in when the Buckeyes were up big. 

If Ohio State does go to St. Clair, they can take this offense to the next level. He would unlock the quarterback run game; he would unlock the arm strength that they haven't had since CJ Stroud; and he would be able to keep the offense in second gear to protect him.

If he did enough to win the job last week, the Buckeyes could take the first couple of steps in determining who could be their future quarterback.