The Ohio State Buckeyes landed arguably their biggest commitment of the 2025 class almost a year ago last summer, when five-star QB Tavien St. Clair committed in June of 2023.

However, at the time, it was unclear exactly what they Buckeyes had just landed.

Upon his commitment, St. Clair ranked as the No. 25 quarterback and the No. 10 player in the state of Ohio in the class of 2025 per 247Sports. Since then, he has shot up the charts, to the point where he now ranks as the No. 2 overall player in the country, the No. 2 QB, and the No. 1 player in the state.

And after an extremely impressive outing against the best of the best at the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles, it is clear that he deserves that rankings.

But what caused such a rise in St. Clair’s stock? According to various Elite 11 coaches in a recent interview with The Athletic, he seems to be unlike anything they have ever seen before at the position.

“He is an anomaly,” Elite 11 coach Yogi Roth said to the Athletic “He’s from an hour away from Ohio State, one of the greatest schools in the history of the game, and he’s never had a personal QB coach. He’s done it in a way I haven’t heard about in, like, 20 years.”

However, the Elite 11 coaches didn’t stop there.

They also gave The Athletic a comparison between St. Clair and former Ohio State commit (and now Nebraska QB) Dylan Raiola.

Raiola, of course, was arguably the biggest piece of the Buckeyes 2024 class before his sudden and surprising de-commitment in favor of the Georgia Bulldogs. He then de-committed from Georgia just before the early signing period in favor of the Cornhuskers.

“I think he’s a more gifted passer than Raiola by a little bit,” another coach said about St. Clair. “Dylan was more casual and cool. He looked like a grown man who you could tell had watched hours and hours of (Patrick) Mahomes and was like this big middle infielder slinging it around. Tavien looked more intentional.”

Another coach agreed with that sentiment, going as far to say that not only is St. Clair’s arm more talented than that of Raiola, but he is also coming to Columbus in a much better situation in terms of pressure and expectations than that of Raiola.

In other words, St. Clair is going to have more time to develop himself. Meanwhile, Raiola is about to be thrown straight into the deep end in Lincoln, where he is being counted on as the savior of the Cornhuskers program.

“I think Tavien had the best arm here,” another coach told the Athletic. “I think (his arm’s) a little better than Raiola’s, and he’ll be under less of a microscope in his situation. He can make some mistakes without everyone looking for him to be the savior of the program without a lot of good players around him.”

At the end of the day, only time will tell if St. Clair will be able to live up to the lofty expectations that come with being the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

In fact, the same holds true for Raiola in Lincoln.

Based on the current talent situation in Columbus, and the fact that he has thrown for over 8,000 yards and has 83 total touchdowns in three seasons at Bellefontaine, however, St. Clair will have as good a chance as any QB in the past to succeed at Ohio State.

CORTLAND, Ohio (MyValleyTributes) – Patricia A. Walker, 78, of Cortland, Ohio passed away Friday, June 21, 2024, at Warren Health and Rehab.  

She was born March 17, 1946, in Ravenna, Ohio, a daughter of the late Leland R. Walker and the late Gertrude Newcomb Walker.

Patricia graduated from Garfield High School in Garresttsville and was employed as a sales clerk with Giant Eagle Grocery for over 20 years.

Surviving are her son, Glen (Rachel) Walker of Cortland, Ohio; eight grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Also surviving is a sister, Kay Synder of Lordstown, Ohio.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Keoni L. Walker; a sister, Virginia Fackler; and a brother, Robert Mason.

Per her wishes, there will be no calling hours or service.  

The arrangements have been entrusted to the Carl W. Hall Funeral Home.

A television tribute will air Wednesday, June 26 at the following approximate times: 7:10 a.m. on FOX, 12:22 p.m. on WKBN, 5:08 p.m. on MyYTV and 7:27 p.m. on WYTV. Video will be posted here the day of airing.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Residents of an eastern Ohio village will learn more about the fiery wreck of a Norfolk Southern freight train last year that derailed their lives as another hearing gets underway Tuesday in their hometown, with the National Transportation Safety Board set to discuss the ongoing investigation and issue recommendations for averting future disasters.

Dozens of freight cars derailed Feb. 3, 2023, on the outskirts of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania border, including 11 carrying hazardous materials. Residents evacuated as fears grew about a potential explosion, and officials intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the air despite the potential health effects.

The NTSB said early on that an overheated bearing on one of the railcars that was not caught in time by trackside sensors likely caused the crash. Investigative hearings have since highlighted other possible contributors including widespread rail job cuts and rushed inspections. Investigators also delved into why officials chose to deliberately blow open the vinyl chloride cars and burn that key ingredient for making PVC pipes.

A key point Tuesday will be the expected release of NTSB recommendations for safety improvements. Though NTSB recommendations aren’t binding, it’s possible Congress will be willing to enforce some of them because of the spotlight cast on rail safety by the crash.

More than a year ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Ohio’s two senators proposed a package of reforms including requiring two-person crews and setting standards for the inspections and detectors that help prevent derailments. But that bill stalled in the Senate under resistance from Republicans and the railroads. GOP leaders in the House have said they didn’t want to consider new rail safety regulations until after the final NTSB report was released.

With limited success, federal regulators also pushed for the railroads to make changes like signing onto an anonymous government hotline to report safety concerns. And the industry responded to the crash by promising to install more trackside detectors, review the way they are used and help first responders improve their handling of derailments with more training and better access to information about the cargo.

For his part, Norfolk Southern’s CEO pledged to “make things right” in East Palestine with more than $100 million in aid to residents and the community. CEO Alan Shaw also hired a consultant from the nuclear power industry to recommend changes and tried to work with labor. Still, critics said Norfolk Southern was too often satisfied in the past with doing only the minimum required for safety and workers reported no big changes in day-to-day operations.

But after the derailment, all the major freight railroads pledged work to improve safety by adding hundreds more trackside sensors to help spot problems like overheating bearings and by re-evaluating how they analyze the data from those detectors. The Association of American Railroads trade group said the industry will review the NTSB report and look for additional ways to improve safety. But so far the industry’s efforts haven’t resulted in a significant boost in its safety record in the Federal Railroad Administration statistics.

Earlier this year, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told Congress that the agency’s investigation had determined that the controversial vent-and-burn operation that prompted evacuations and sent a huge plume of black smoke over the small town wasn’t necessary. Experts from the company that made the vinyl chloride, OxyVinyls, testified at the NTSB hearings they were certain a feared chemical reaction that could have caused those tank cars to explode wasn’t happening.

But Ohio’s governor, first responders and the hazardous materials experts who made that decision have said the information they had that day made them believe an explosion was likely imminent, making the burn their best option despite the risks of unleashing cancer-causing dioxins in the area.

The chemical manufacturer has declined to comment publicly on the situation that is already the subject of lawsuits beyond what its experts testified to last spring.

Norfolk Southern announced last week that it will lead an industrywide examination of how to improve the way vent-and-burn decisions are made in future derailments. That was part of its settlement with the federal government.

The NTSB has also looked at the struggles of first responders who didn’t immediately know exactly what was on the train after 38 cars jumped off the tracks, many spilling their contents and catching fire.

Federal officials finalized a new rule Monday that will require railroads to inform first responders about what is on a train immediately after a derailment. The industry says more than two million first responders now have immediate access to that information via an AskRail app that allows them to look up any train’s cargo.

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Funk contributed to this story from Omaha, Nebraska, and Krisher from Detroit.