Freshman Focus 2025: Tavien St. Clair

Kicking off our series highlighting each of the Buckeyes’ freshmen with the five-star quarterback.

Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class featured 26 commitments and ranked No. 4 in the country, not including transfer portal additions. Each of these new Buckeyes hopes to one day become a star in Columbus, just like so many highly touted prospects before them. As part of Land-Grant Holy Land’s series Freshman Focus, we will take a look at all of these new members of the scarlet and gray and what they can bring to the team.

First up on the list is five-star quarterback, Tavien St. Clair.

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Ohio State under Ryan Day has become a bastion of quarterback play.

J.T. Barrett put together a career-best season as a senior upon Day’s arrival to campus in 2017 as quarterbacks coach, and he followed that up with Dwayne Haskins’ record-breaking 2018 campaign.

Since taking over as head coach in 2019, Day has seen almost nothing but elite quarterback play from Justin Fields and CJ Stroud to most recently Will Howard, who had far and away his best year in his only season in Columbus.

Day is hoping to now follow up Howard’s national championship-caliber performance with a similar effort from former five-star prospect Julian Sayin, who looked very impressive in Ohio State’s spring game this past weekend. As is typically the case, however, the Buckeyes aren’t just built for the now, but for the future as well.

In that not-so-distant future is another five-star prospect in freshman Tavien St. Clair.

The No. 3 quarterback and No. 7 overall player in the 2025 class, St. Clair was the No. 1 player in Ohio as the pride of Bellefontaine High School. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound QB began as a bit of an unknown commodity, but rose up the ranks to become one of the nation’s top passers.

He would ultimately choose the Buckeyes over offers from Alabama, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Penn State and around two dozen others.

“Being a kid from Ohio, that’s what you dream of, being a Buckeye.” St. Clair told Eleven Warriors back when he committed in June 2023. “It’s 50 minutes down the road, family can watch whenever they want […] There’s not a better place I’d rather be.”

St. Clair was a monster for Bellefontaine, throwing for more than 10,000 yards and completing more than 100 touchdown passes for the Chieftains. A runner up for 2024 Ohio Mr. Football, St. Clair threw for over 2,500 yards with 29 touchdowns to only four interceptions as a senior, adding another nine scores with his legs.

The talented QB’s most impressive campaign came in his junior year, wherein he passed for a school-record 3,983 yards with 37 TDs to six INTs.

A three-time Offensive Player of the Year in the Central Buckeye Conference, the accolades for St. Clair were not limited to the Ohio high school ranks. The blue chip prospect also showed out at the Elite 11 Finals last summer, winning the Panini Accuracy Challenge and finishing as the No. 1 player on Day 2 of the event, but finishing in second place overall to Alabama’s Keelon Russell.

St. Clair was also named a Navy All-American, but did not compete in the event as an early enrollee at Ohio State. He also most recently won the accuracy competition at the Nike “Next Ones” event back in February.

A talented multi-sport athlete who also played basketball and baseball, here is some of what 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins had to say in his scouting report of St. Clair:

“Likes to thread the needle with tight spirals and will alter the arm angle to throw around defenders. Rare core strength allows him to deliver off-balance dimes while a broad chest makes it easy for him to whip the ball across his body. […] Should be viewed as a potential multi-year starter for a College Football Playoff contender that can distribute at a high level both inside and outside of the pocket after some fine-tuning. Likely to eventually draw NFL scouts in with his build and power.”

We got a small taste of St. Clair’s abilities in the Buckeyes’ spring game, while also seeing some of the growing pains of a talented player coming from a smaller school to a place like Ohio State. The freshman threw a pair of interceptions in The Shoe, but also completed 11-of-18 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown after settling in during the second half.

St. Clair isn’t going to be a day-one starter, nor was that ever going to be the expectation for the highly regarded prospect. However, the Ohio kid has all of the tools to one day be a star in this Ohio State offense.

We won’t see St. Clair attempt a collegiate pass in a non-garbage time setting in 2025, but the future of the quarterback position looks bright with him on campus.