Air Noland, 5-star QB: Ohio State Signing Day 2024 player profile

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State football program is expected to sign five-star quarterback Air Noland during the early signing period for the 2024 recruiting class, which lasts from Dec. 20-22. Learn more about this member of the Buckeyes’ recruiting class with this profile.

Air Noland

School: Langston Hughes (Fairburn, Georgia)

Position: Quarterback

Height, weight: 6-foot-2, 195 pounds

247Sports rating: Five-star prospect rated the No. 4 quarterback, the No. 6 player in Florida and the No. 36 player in the country according to the 247Sports composite ratings.

Other offers: Akron, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Boston College, Charlotte, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Grambling State, Houston, Indiana, Kentucky, Liberty, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), NC State, North Carolina A&T, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, Texas A&M, Tulane, UAB, UCF, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, West Virginia.

What’s his deal?

Noland committed to Ohio State on April 8, cementing his place as the team’s quarterback for the 2024 class.

He’s a left-handed quarterback with excellent arm talent and natural poise in the pocket for a high schooler. He’s elusive when he has to be and is sure to stay patient when outside of the pocket looking downfield for receivers. A track athlete in high school, he’s a level of talent at quarterback that Ohio State has grown accustomed to recruiting in the Ryan Day era.

If Noland hits his ceiling, he should be the starting quarterback for an Ohio State team that is battling for a championship each season.

How he fits into Ohio State’s plans

For now, he’s the third quarterback on the roster behind second-year Lincoln Kienholz and third-year Devin Brown. With Tavien St. Clair as the team’s quarterback commitment in the 2025 class, there’s a bevy of talent in the room.

Noland will have the chance to work his way up the depth chart, but he’ll have to pass talented and experienced players along the way. The plan for Noland figures to be tentatively set for him to compete for the starting job in 2025, but he’ll have the chance to earn his reps early on as a Buckeye — if the team doesn’t bring in a transfer quarterback to compete for the starting gig.

Projections for 2024

Noland will have an uphill climb to a starting role, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility for him to claim the backup quarterback job in his freshman season.

Ohio State opens the season with Akron and Western Michigan at home, then has a bye week before a game against Marshall. Big Ten play starts on Sept. 28 at Michigan State, then the Buckeyes will host Iowa and head to Oregon before another bye week. In short, the schedule sets up nicely for Noland to see playing time in the first few weeks of the season to get acclimated to the college game, and there are opportunities for him to be named the starting quarterback if Ryan Day so chooses.

But at least to start, Noland will be a backup quarterback as either the second- or third-stringer. Even if he plays significant time, it might be too much to expect from him to light the world on fire. In an offense with the talent that the Buckeyes have, though, that might be enough.

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