Ohio State QB commit Tavien St. Clair used small town roots to reach DI potential

It’s the second day of the Bellefontaine youth football camp and kids are begging to be in Tavien St. Clair’s line for drills.

After camp, the kids tracked down the 6-foot-3 quarterback — dressed in his Bellefontaine football gear — for autographs and pictures.

He obliges without hesitation.

For Marcus St. Clair, watching his son interact with these kids is a welcome sight because it wasn’t too long ago when he was taking his son to the same camp.

Generations of the St. Clair family have grown up in the small town of Bellefontaine, Ohio. There was a time when Marcus can remember St. Clair looking up to players like former All-Ohio quarterback Dezmin Lyburtus, a player St. Clair referred to as “the best player I’ve ever seen.”

“When you bring your son out here, (Lyburtus) looks like he’s untouchable to him,” Marcus said.

That’s how the kids now look at Tavien. He’s not just the starting quarterback. He’s a Buckeye.

That doesn’t happen in Bellefontaine, where the population is 14,054, according to the latest census data. St. Clair is one of very few Division I football players to come from Bellefontaine. He’s a hometown hero, but the attention doesn’t faze him.

This is what he always wanted. Not the popularity or to have kids look at him like he’s a superhero. He wanted to be the person who put Bellefontaine on the map. The soon-to-be junior quarterback has discussed these moments with his father and four siblings for as long as he can remember.

“We would talk as a family like one of us has the talent to take us and the town to the next level and produce a high-caliber Division I athlete,” Tavien St. Clair said. “We talked about it since like first grade. How much we love football and college sports, and to be the one to do it out of all my family members, it’s a blessing.”

That drive to be great for his family and hometown has only grown since he committed to Ohio State on June 21. St. Clair believes he still has things to prove.

“I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything,” he said. “Just because I committed to Ohio State doesn’t mean they won’t find another guy who is better than me, so I will take every day to be the best I can be and make sure there’s no doubt I should be the one going to Ohio State.”

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St. Clair’s story isn’t a flashy one.

He didn’t start playing football on a well-manicured field; he didn’t have trainers helping groom him as he got older. His start was simple and it begins on a long paved road in front of his family home.

There he spent countless hours working with his father on footwork, his throwing motion and getting as many reps in as possible.

If Marcus wasn’t available to throw to, St. Clair could rely on neighbors, family or a friend to join him. It didn’t matter whom he threw to, somebody was going to help him work on his game.

“Having the people close to him invested in him who have kept him on that path has been a reflection of what this community is,” Marcus said. “It’s not out of the norm for you to have a close relationship with several people on your street. It’s home to us and has been really good.”

Bellefontaine is the county seat of Logan County, but it’s far from the biggest city in Ohio.

A country town at its core, its residents work to use every resource to give their families everything they need. It’s exactly what Marcus did when throwing on the street with St. Clair.

Marcus played football, but he didn’t have any experience as a quarterback. He played tight end at Bellefontaine when the wing-T offense was more popular than any type of spread or air raid. So when St. Clair started showing more interest in playing quarterback, Marcus went to the internet.

He watched film of former Ohio State star Troy Smith, Notre Dame star Brady Quinn and NFL players like Michael Vick. He wanted to give his son the best advice possible about his footwork and the ideal throwing motions.

“It’s hilarious because when we were throwing all that time he was so worried about his mechanics and how do I throw it and throw further than my dad,” Marcus said. “Then to see that he grew up and worked on his own and tried to perfect it, you just saw the athleticism and talent coming through and then the work ethic behind it.”

St. Clair wanted to be great and leave a mark on his hometown from an early age. That work in the street helped him tremendously, but he was also pushed by people around town, including Lyburtus.

Sitting in the stands watching Lyburtus was like watching a superhero for many in the city.

“He lit the world on fire,” Marcus said.

In his senior year, Lyburtus tallied 42 total touchdowns, 20-plus coming in the air and on the ground, and led Bellefontaine to the Division III regional semifinals before losing in overtime to Tri-Valley.

St. Clair was in awe of the standout quarterback, who now plays wide receiver at Ferris State.

“I remember thinking to myself if that dude was dominating and went to Division II then it’s going to take some serious work to get to the Division I level,” St. Clair said.

The quarterback already had a strong work ethic, but he had talks with his family about reaching a goal that hadn’t been achieved yet.

Everybody told him the same thing: “We’re just going to take it to a different level and grind.”

“We threw every single day,” St. Clair said.

Marcus made a promise to his kids that if there was anything they were interested in and wanted to do for the rest of their lives he’d work to give them every resource possible. So at the age of 12, St. Clair and his father got in the car for the six-hour drive to Nashville, Tenn., for a camp put on by George Whitfield Jr., who grew up in Massillon, Ohio.

St. Clair was the youngest attendee there, but by the end of the three-day camp, he was being asked to lead off drills and take the same reps as the older players.

“What I saw was, give him an opportunity, and a stage, and he’s going to give it everything he has and he’s going to shine,” Marcus said.

Tavien St. Clair is the No. 10 player in the state of Ohio in the Class of 2025 per the 247Sports Composite. (Cameron Teague Robinson / The Athletic)

Baseball was St. Clair’s first love, but once he started football it was hard to get him off the field.

In third grade, he played up with the sixth graders. He wasn’t a quarterback yet, an athletic kid slotted at running back, and his first carry was a 70-yard touchdown.

He played quarterback in fourth grade. Still, playing up in age, he threw his first touchdown and was hooked. For St. Clair, there’s nothing like the feeling of throwing a touchdown pass.

“That’s what you watch on TV and I finally got to throw my first touchdown. I remember being so excited,” St. Clair said. “That was the point where I was like, OK, I can do this for a long time.”

His entire youth football career he was “the guy,” but when he got to high school that wasn’t the case.

He stepped in as a freshman and was thrust into a quarterback battle with his-now best friend, Riley Neer. They battled all summer and even into the season. St. Clair didn’t get his first start until Week 6 and was still named an All-Conference player.

More important than the accolades was how St. Clair handled the battle. Now, St. Clair knows all the secrets to get onto the football field — if the gate is locked he can get in to practice by going through the bathroom doors that divide the baseball field and football stadium.

As a freshman, though, there were times he’d get to the field and Neer was already there working out.

“You have to compete and work every single day to beat the guy next to you. If you aren’t, then somebody else is working harder than you,” St. Clair said. “That teaches you stuff, discipline, the grind. You have to wake up early and just work.”

There was a point in his freshman season when he thought the battle might be over. During Week 2, St. Clair completed 9 of 12 passes for more than 100 yards and had two touchdowns. Marcus and the rest of the family left the game thinking their son was ready, but the decision hadn’t been made. St. Clair went back to work on being the best version of himself and eventually earned the position.

That year helped mold St. Clair into the person he is.

“I can’t say enough good things about what that brought out of him,” Marcus said. “It showed him the highs and the lows. … When he got to high school and started playing with 18-year-olds, he realized, I have to go get this if I want it.”

That season was also the first time colleges began inquiring about St. Clair, and Ohio State was the first. Former offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson reached out to Bellefontaine coach Jason Brown and started the relationship. It didn’t take long for Wilson and the staff to see something they liked from St. Clair.

The freshman film was eye-opening for the Buckeyes. St. Clair’s ability to roll out of the pocket, keep his eyes downfield and make an accurate throw on the run was advanced, they told his family.

But they wanted to see more film and what he could do in the pocket. Once they got that, the recruitment began.

Bellefontaine is an Ohio State town, giving the Buckeyes a head start with the St. Clair family. Not just because they were Ohio State fans, but because the Buckeyes believed in him first.

It’s not uncommon for players on Division III teams in Ohio to be overlooked in favor of those ranked at the bigger powerhouses in the state and the country. It puts a chip on their shoulders, and St. Clair is no different.

“It’s the late bloomer type of mentality,” he said. “You have to have that chip on your shoulder because people grind here, you’re just going to outwork everybody.”

He knew he was talented enough to play at an elite, Division I level, so St. Clair went to camps around the country at Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State and even Michigan.

None of the schools compared to Ohio State, though.

“It doesn’t get better than this,” he said. “The quarterback development is better than anywhere else and I’m 50 minutes away from home.”

The Buckeyes wanted to see steps in St. Clair’s growth, though, and once they saw it they were all in. That was all the St. Clairs needed to hear.

Leaving camp this summer, St. Clair told his dad he was ready to commit. Marcus told him to sleep on it and they would talk again in the morning.

St. Clair woke up and knew. Ohio State was where he wanted to be.

“He knew, no doubt,” Marcus said.

The job comes with a target on his back. Every cornerback is going to want to intercept him; every lineman will want to sack him. There’s more pressure now. But St. Clair doesn’t mind it.

“You take it as if it’s a kid in practice,” St. Clair said. “There are kids on my team that want to get a pick off me so they can say that. You treat it like it’s practice, but you treat everything like it’s a game.”

He envisions himself running through the tunnel at Ohio Stadium and playing in front of a packed crowd. To do that, he wants to be as physically and mentally ready as possible to compete at Ohio State.

That means he’ll go right back to the street, throwing with his dad or going through the bathroom at Bellefontaine High School to throw on the field with anybody he can find.

“It’s just humble beginnings. That’s how you operate,” St. Clair said. “When you’re from here you don’t let your head get too big, you don’t get too flashy, you just come here and work every single day.”

(Top photo courtesy of Marcus St. Clair)

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