Head of Elite 11 Finals lavishes praise on 5-star Ohio State QB commit Tavien St. Clair

Last month, Bellefontaine (Ohio) five-star quarterback and Ohio State commit Tavien St. Clair punched his ticket to this summer’s Elite 11 Finals.

There are few higher honors for high school quarterbacks than being invited to the Elite 11 Finals. The event, which will celebrate its 25th year in 2024, brings together the country’s elite signal-callers for three days of competition and training in Los Angeles.

Elite 11 alumni include Carson Palmer, Andrew Luck, Matthew Stafford, Tim Tebow, and more recently Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young and more. Last year’s Elite 11 Finals featured more than a dozen of the top 20 quarterbacks in the final On3 Industry Rankings, including each of the top five players at the position.

High praise for the future Buckeye

St. Clair has proven himself to be on the country’s top prospects at every turn. And despite now being a prominent participant in the 7v7 circuit, St. Clair is becoming a national name, according to Elite 11’s Head of Events Brian Stumpf.

“They’re getting one of the most polished pocket passers in this year’s class, without a doubt,” he said of St. Clair on Wednesday during On3’s Inside Scoop recruiting show. “And to your point of him not being talked about [enough], I think this past weekend was some of the first 7-on-7. He’s not a guy that’s out there every weekend and really current in the rundowns, and articles and top performers at the various 7-on-7 events. But again, he performs on the field and on Friday night lights, first and a foremost. And he was a guy, again, who popped on our radar last year at the regional. I think Coach Ryan Day at Ohio State has a great advantage with a son that’s also a high school quarterback, so he’s been out at events a lot the last year or two and seen a lot of guys at events.

… He got to see Tavien last year as an underclassman, and I think that really accelerated Ohio State’s pursuit of him. He came back and camped again in the summer, so they got the early dibs on him, him being an in-state guy that was a natural fit for him. At the end of the day, he’s added good weight from last year — he’s up to 224. But he moves so well in the pocket with a great base, and his performance at the regional was really one of the best all-around top performances we’ve seen this spring.”

St. Clair’s ascension looks to be only just beginning

The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder made an early commitment to the Buckeyes back in June 2023, choosing Day and his staff over offers from Toledo, Louisville, Florida and a handful of others. At the time, he wasn’t known as a major national prospect. But he has certainly put people on notice with his meteoric jump in the past nine-plus months.

St. Clair then skyrocketed up the recruiting rankings after a huge junior season. He currently sits as the No. 12 overall prospect in the 2025 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He also joins a prestigious list of Ohio State quarterback commits to earn the Elite 11 Finals nod, including Air Noland, Devin Brown, Quinn Ewers, Kyle McCord and CJ Stroud.