While the Buckeyes are busy celebrating Julian Sayin, something quieter slipped through the cracks. Lincoln Kienholz, who lost the starting QB role to Sayin, left for Louisville, still carrying the weight of the 2023 Missouri game. As he looks for a fresh start with the Cardinals, OSU alum Bobby Carpenter cleared his stance on Kienholz, claiming an ‘unfair’ assessment.

“I think people unfairly kind of judged Lincoln,” Carpenter said on the January 28th episode of the Bobby Carpenter Show. “But, I mean, the guy was a true freshman who had no experience behind an offensive line that was shaky, to say the least. He was overwhelmed.”

“Like, he wasn’t prepared just to be able to do it because he wasn’t ready at that stage of his career. But then he had nobody else around him as well, and it felt like that kind of stuck with him still when people would kind of look and talk about him for a number of years.”

In the 2023 Cotton Bowl game against Missouri, Lincoln Kienholz stepped in early in the second quarter to replace an injured Devin Brown. However, it didn’t go as expected. Kienholz completed 6 of 17 passes for 86 yards. Ohio State, with only 203 yards of total offense, lost 14-3 after an exhausted defensive line finally gave way in the fourth quarter, allowing the only two touchdowns.

It is quite understandable that Kienholz was less than half a year into the collegiate setting and was inserted into the important game without receiving many first-team reps leading up to the game. The shaky offensive line added to it, leading to four sacks.

However, it became the last time the Buckeye Nation saw him in action in a competitive game. Kienholz remained as the backup QB since then. He competed for the starter role with Julian Sayin heading into the 2025 season, but ultimately lost the gig to Alabama transfer Julian Sayin, who led the team to the playoffs.

After years of being a backup QB, he will look for a starting role at his new home, the Louisville Cardinals, in the 2026 season.

Lincoln Kienholz transferred to Louisville

Lincoln Kienholz, after spending three years with the Buckeyes, transferred to Louisville in the 2026 transfer portal. He has two years of eligibility left after redshirting in 2024. Kienholz was the second portal addition for the Cardinals. He is expected to take over the QB1 role for the 2026 season, which will be the fourth straight year the Cardinals have started a transfer portal signal caller.

In three years at Ohio State, Kienholz threw for 250 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 68 yards and two touchdowns. He has a career completion percentage of 58.3%. However, his 2025 performance has seen an improvement, where he had a 78.6% completion rate.

Despite his limited playing time at Ohio State, he had a notable high school career, being recruited as the No. 1 overall player in South Dakota. He helped lead his team, Pierre High School, to three consecutive state championships, throwing for 3,422 yards and 46 touchdowns as a senior, also rushing for 1,435 yards and 24 scores. It would be interesting to see if he can bring his best when he starts for the Cardinals in the upcoming season.