First-year quarterback Lincoln Kienholz loses black stripe

COLUMBUS — Lincoln Kienholz is the all-time passing leader in South Dakota high school history. He was USA TODAY’s High School Boys Athlete of the Year in 2022-23. And now he’s officially a Buckeye.

Kienholz, Ohio State’s true freshman quarterback, shed his black stripe Thursday, along with first-year defensive lineman Jason Moore.

Kienholz is one of four Buckeyes scholarship quarterbacks this season. He’s learning behind starter Kyle McCord, backup Devin Brown and seventh-year veteran Tristan Gebbia, who spent the previous five seasons at Oregon State but started his college career at Nebraska.

Kienholz starred at T.F. Riggs High School in Pierre, South Dakota — and not just in football. He was a three-sport phenom in his home state.

Kienholz stayed in Pierre rather than enrolling early at Ohio State and, in doing so, he was able to capture a baseball state title after showing out as both a shortstop and pitcher in the spring.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Kienholz is also second all-time in Pierre basketball history with 1,464 career points.

As for the gridiron, that’s where he led the Governors to three straight 11AA state championships. He rounded out that prolific run with a senior season consisting of 70 total touchdowns (46 passing, 24 rushing).

Kienholz flipped to Ohio State after originally committing to Washington. He was the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 15 quarterback in the 2023 class.

Even back in July, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was praising Kienholz.

“Been really impressed with how it doesn’t seem too big for Lincoln,” Day said at Big Ten Media Days.

Day noted earlier this season that he’d love to get Kienholz some game reps in 2023, if possible.

“You know, we’re allowed to have four games and still redshirt Lincoln,” Day said. “We’ll see how things go. Every rep is so valuable right now. So we’ll see. But there’s a lot of things that we are very much encouraged with, with Lincoln. We see somebody who hasn’t played a whole bunch of football, has played multiple sports, but has a great feel, is very intelligent, very inquisitive, curious and has to continue to build.

“He didn’t play down in Georgia or Texas or Ohio. You know, he played in South Dakota. So it’s going to take a little bit of time for him, but he’s learning quickly. And we’d love to see him get in the game at some point for sure.”

Lincoln Kienholz joins DL Jason Moore as latest Buckeyes to shed black stripe

Sophomore offensive linemen George Fitzpatrick and Tegra Tshabola lost their black stripes the second week of this year’s spring practice, along with Ole Miss transfer cornerback Davison Igbinosun and true freshman wide receiver Carnell Tate. Oregon State transfer quarterback Tristan Gebbia shed his black stripe later in spring ball. And so did true freshman safety Malik Hartford and true freshman tight end Jelani Thurman.

Both transfer offensive linemen the Buckeyes brought in this offseason, Josh Simmons and Victor Cutler Jr., were the first Ohio State players to shed their black stripes in training camp. Then true freshman offensive tackle Luke Montgomery lost his, along with Ole Miss transfer defensive tackle Tywone Malone. After that, true freshman wide receiver Bryson Rodgers joined true freshman cornerback Jermaine Mathews in receiving the post-practice honor. Transfer cornerback Lorenzo Styles Jr. lost his black stripe the same week as Rodgers and Mathews. The most recent black stripe honorees are wide receiver Noah Rogers, defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, offensive linemen Josh Padilla and Austin Siereveld and wide receiver Brandon Inniss, linebacker/defensive end Arvell Reese — all true freshmen — plus Syracuse transfer safety Ja’Had Carter and Arizona State transfer long snapper John Ferlmann. Now, Moore and Kienholz can be added to that list.