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QB1 Julian Sayin (All B1G, B1G Frosh of Year, All American, National Frosh of Year, National Champion)

Ryan Day's newest comments on Julian Sayin will fire up Ohio State fans

The Ohio State head coach had some good things to say about the returning QB.

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In an interview with Jim Rome, Day says that he has a lot of faith in the ability of Sayin to keep growing, even as next season goes along.

"There's not many guys his age with one year of playing that have made it to New York City...For his first year as a starter, he did a lot of great things. This is one of the few times in my career that I've had a quarterback come back to play for two years in a row...The best quarterbacks are the ones that do that: they get better year after year, and as we've all seen, experience in college football matters."

Day understands that Sayin lacked experience, and now that he has that, the Buckeyes should be able to play better in the games late in the season that they struggled in. Sayin's worst games were in the Big Ten Championship and the Cotton Bowl, two of the games they needed to win to help complete their goals.

Ohio State is going to be one of the favorites to win it all next season.
 
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Julian Sayin Taking More Command at Line of Scrimmage, Working on Mobility Entering 2026

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There are advantages to having a seasoned quarterback in a Ryan Day offense. Well, and an Arthur Smith offense, too.

Thus far in his Ohio State tenure, Day has had three men under center who entered a campaign with a full season of starting experience or more: Justin Fields in 2020, C.J. Stroud in 2022 and Will Howard in 2024. The return for each of those situations? An increased ability to make checks at the line of scrimmage and have an extra coach-like set of eyes at field level.

As Julian Sayin enters his second season as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback in 2026, his role in the offense and getting Ohio State in the correct looks at the line of scrimmage is increasing – and he’s working to improve his mobility, too.

“I think we've done a lot (of) giving the quarterback a lot of responsibility at the line of scrimmage within our new kind of – what we've been running these past few days,” Sayin said. “I think there's that, and then it also comes with just having more leadership out there and really taking command of the offense and, ‘Hey, this is the route that I want you at and this is the depth and this is the timing, because I'm the one out there throwing it to you and this is how it's going to go.’”
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Ohio State football QB Julian Sayin admits how he approached the idea of the transfer portal after last season

Ryan Day has something he’s only had with Justin Fields and CJ Stroud in Columbus with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2026: a returning starting quarterback.

Ohio State will have QB Julian Sayin back for a second season in 2026 after he was a Heisman finalist as a redshirt freshman last year. Sayin is a former Alabama transfer, so he knows how the portal works, and he was recently asked how he approached the idea of transferring out after last season with Ohio State.

Ohio State’s Julian Sayin keeps it real about the transfer portal

Every player has to weigh the idea of transferring after each season, it’s just how college football goes. We see players in good situations transfer to other teams for a bigger payday all the time. Sayin though, never even thought about leaving Columbus.

“I didn’t talk to anybody, and there was no reason to talk to me,” Sayin told On3’s Chris Low recently. “I wasn’t going anywhere, I would say everybody probably already knew that and wasn’t going to waste their time. Why would you leave here and play quarterback anywhere else?”

There was zero reason for Julian Sayin to walk away from Ohio State

Quarterbacks want to play at Ohio State because of Day’s ability to develop them, but it makes it even easier when you’re throwing the ball to Jeremiah Smith. Ohio State will return its star wide receiver for his junior season and Bo Jackson is back to lead the running back position as a sophomore. Add in an experienced offensive line and there was really no reason for Sayin to even think about leaving.

Ohio State brought in an NFL offensive coordinator for what could be Sayin’s last season in college. Working with Arthur Smith is going to be a positive for the 6-foot-1 quarterback and getting ready for the next level.

Sayin needs to take a step in his second season starting both in the pocket and showing the ability to run when needed. If Sayin can take a step forward in his second season, Ohio State’s going to have a good shot at accomplishing its biggest goals.
 
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And this will be his third OC in three seasons. Cannot see any major changes being made by Smith, probably mostly tweaks, rather than directional changes. Kinda like the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mode. We always hear, that the TE will get more involved, and we'll do the RPO more, or hit the underneath receiver who's at speed type of things. Maybe the OC will give formations that look like pass, but are runs, and vice versa. Dunno. Just going to enjoy the show. tOSU can/will out talent most of the B10, and hopefully show well in it's only major OOL game, Texas, and then await the playoffs, where the caliber of team we're facing is on the same level as the Buckeyes. Go Bucks
 
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ROAD WORK AHEAD. Where can Julian Sayin specifically improve entering his second year as Ohio State’s starter? ESPN’s Jordan Reid spoke with NFL evaluators this month while scouting the strengths and weaknesses of 22 college quarterbacks.

Where he excels: Sayin excelled in his first season as a starter, finishing with 3,610 passing yards and 32 touchdowns to eight interceptions. He's a point guard-like distributor whose game centers on accuracy. His 77% completion percentage led all passers last season. His placement makes the after-catch process seamless for receivers, as he puts the ball on the proper parts of their frames. Sayin repeatedly takes what defenses give him underneath while also being aware of when to loft throws downfield. His alertness with protections at the line is also obvious, as he gets a lot of freedom to alter playcalls.
Where he needs work: Sayin doesn't have ideal size, and his lack of arm strength to drive the ball into tight areas is apparent, resulting in few throws in the middle of the field. The Buckeyes' offense has a lot of predetermined deep throws to the outside and quick-game concepts attacking the off coverage by defenders. Pre- to post-snap coverage rotation was a constant battle for Sayin last season, especially in losses to Indiana and Miami. Scouts also want to see Sayin use his mobility more. His youth (20 years old) might lead him to wait until 2028 to enter the draft.
I found Reid’s point about Sayin’s age interesting. Yes, he’s 20, but he’ll turn 21 on July 23. That’s young, but not unusually young for a successful college or NFL quarterback.

To me, Sayin’s age becomes irrelevant given his experience. He started 14 games in 2025, and if Ohio State makes another national title push, he could enter the NFL draft with around 30 career starts. Alabama’s Ty Simpson — who is almost identical in size to Sayin at 6-foot-1 and 211 pounds compared to Sayin’s 6-foot-1 and 208 pounds — was the No. 13 overall pick in April despite making only 15 career starts for the Crimson Tide, all coming in 2025.

If Sayin continues improving his pre- and post-snap recognition while becoming more willing to use his mobility, there’s no reason he can’t become the best quarterback in college football this fall and one of the top picks in the 2027 NFL draft.
 
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while becoming more willing to use his mobility
I think this is it. Maybe Pryor spoiled me - when he tucked the ball I got the feeling that he's got it. Then he was followed by maybe the smartest running quarterback I've ever seen in college - JT Barrett. Then came Justin Fields, and he was also good at running. Then came Stroud - how many times did I know he had 10+ yards ahead of him and he just refused to run it? "Tuck it and run!" Ugh. He made up for it by still throwing for more than he would have gotten with his legs. But it was still tough.
With Sayin, I'm not as confident that he's got the wide open yards for scrambling. But there's still times when I think "just run it!" Of course, he still completed 77% - I'm sure I was wrong more often than not when I got that feeling.
Anyway, I don't want him running too much, of course, but I wonder how much defenses will play up on the edges if he scrambles a couple of times a game.
 
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