Julian Sayin completed a pass on fourth down during one of Ohio State’s preseason scrimmages in August that left Brandon Inniss buzzing.
It wasn’t the zip on the ball or the arc of the throw that impressed the senior wide receiver. It was Sayin’s reaction to the pickup. He erupted in celebration.
“You could see the emotion he had screaming,” Inniss said. “I'm like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s got that dog in him. I like it.’ ”
The sequence had already grown tense. Sayin disputed the spot of the ball following third down, prompting coach Ryan Day to keep the offense on the field.
But the episode provided a glimpse into Sayin’s growing presence among his teammates. As he prepares for his second season as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback, Sayin has shown growth
that extends beyond the physical maturation of a redshirt sophomore, a product of the experience gained through 14 starts and an offseason emphasis on leadership development.
“He's really found his voice,” Day said. “He's much more assertive than even at this time last year.”
Sayin emerged as one of the top passers in the country when he debuted as a starter last year, leading the Buckeyes to an unbeaten regular season and finishing as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He threw for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns while nearly putting together the most accurate season in FBS history with a 77% completion percentage.
Despite the breakout season that established him as one of college football’s biggest stars, Sayin was not immune to the growing pains of a first-time starting quarterback as the Buckeyes suffered an early exit in the College Football Playoff, leaving his continued development central to their pursuit of a second national title in three years.
“There’s been a lot of successes and obviously some shortcomings,” Day said. “When you have somebody who's been through it, there's just a certain level of experience, a certain level of urgency, that comes with all of that.”
Julian Sayin's value of experience
The quarterback duels of December revealed the experience gap between Sayin and his peers.
Sayin was on the losing end against Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza in the Big Ten championship game and Miami’s Carson Beck in the playoff quarterfinals. While Sayin was in his first year behind center, both Mendoza and Beck had been starting in college since 2023.
Bumps in the road are inevitable during a young quarterback's maturation, a reality Day has witnessed throughout his tenure.
While he added an experienced transfer in 2024 in Will Howard, who arrived at Ohio State from Kansas State and helped lead the Buckeyes to a title, Day has largely relied on quarterbacks his program had spent years molding.
For as much as the transfer portal might offer a proven starter, it also contains a shade of uncertainty. The tradeoffs are unavoidable.
“When you bring in somebody who is an older guy, you get experience,” Day said, “but you also roll the dice because you don't know them as well. You haven't been through the fire, so you have to teach them the culture. There are unknowns. This, you know what you have, and that matters. There's a history.”
Technically, Sayin is a transfer quarterback. He left Alabama for Ohio State in 2024. But the move came only weeks after he signed with the Crimson Tide, following the abrupt retirement of legendary coach Nick Saban. Every meaningful stage of his development has unfolded in Columbus.
Sayin served as the Buckeyes’ No. 3 quarterback as a freshman, then beat out Lincoln Kienholz for the starting job last year in his rise up the depth chart.
He will join C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields as the third returning starting quarterback in Day’s eight seasons at Ohio State.
The continuity has benefited Sayin.
“It’s helped me see things,” Sayin said. “When I was able to watch Will my freshman year, I learned a lot from him, and to kind of step into that role last year and then be the returning starter this year, it's been really helpful for my career and my game. And to have an offensive head coach like Coach Day.”
Day sees dividends as well. Experience compounds with each snap, rewarding development.
“The more you play, the more experience you have, the better you're going to be, the slower the game is,” Day said. “Every time you take a snap, it's an opportunity to get better and put that play in your library of plays and draw upon.”
Julian Sayin is finding his voice
When center Carson Hinzman joined former Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter on a podcast in July, he grinned as he recalled the nickname Sayin had earned the previous season.
“I just called him the clapper,” Hinzman said, “because he wouldn’t say nothing. He just kept clapping in the huddle.”
But the reserved demeanor of Sayin has faded this offseason. He has evolved into more of a vocal figure, showing assertiveness while leading teammates through strength and conditioning drills and calling plays in the huddle. He was named one of seven team captains, the Buckeyes’ first quarterback since Stroud to receive the honor.
“It's way different,” Inniss said. “You can see how he talks, how he walks, how he carries himself inside the facility.”
The circumstances have helped Sayin become more demonstrative. After being entangled with Kienholz in their high-profile position battle last offseason, there is no mistaking his stature within the Woody Hayes Athletic Center this year. He’s one of the faces of the program.
“It is a little easier,” Sayin said, “but you still have to get out of your comfort zone.”
Sayin found encouragement from strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti, who pushed him to provide more vocal leadership during workouts and team-building sessions.
The emphasis echoed the intangible traits Howard once supplied during Ohio State’s national championship run. He brought moxie to their biggest games.
“That was the best thing he did,” tight end Bennett Christian said. “Getting guys going.”
The Buckeyes feel Sayin’s presence the most in the huddle, where his confidence is hard to miss.
“He shows a lot more emotion,” Christian added. “He's a really good rah-rah guy.”
The huddle is as much a setting for revealing Sayin’s command as his encouragement of teammates. There’s little hesitation.
“When he's in the huddle, guy’s talking, he's telling everybody to shut up and saying all type of stuff,” wide receiver Jeremiah Smith said. “You see that swagger coming out of him and a lot of different things. He's taking that step for sure.”
There is no shortage of potential leaders for Ohio State this year. The seven captains are the Buckeyes’ most since 2020 and include Smith, who is arguably the best player in the country.
But Sayin occupies a position of gravitas.
“When the quarterback says things and when the quarterback can take command,” Inniss said, “it's just different, and Julian's done that a lot.”
It carries over to when the ball is snapped.
“A big part of being a quarterback is those guys have to want to make the play or get that first down because of the quarterback,” Day said, “and he's doing a really good job of that. They believe in him.”
Julian Sayin is handling more
Sayin has more freedom at the line of scrimmage this year.
“As a quarterback you want to be in charge,” Sayin said. “You want to be able to make the checks and get us in the right play. It’s been a ton of fun.”
The expanded pre-snap duties coincide not only with Sayin’s starting experience, but also the arrival of Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator. Smith, a former NFL coach who was most recently the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, replaced Brian Hartline in January.
While Smith spent most of the past two years calling plays in Pittsburgh for accomplished veteran quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson, he has hardly dwelled on Sayin’s relative youth.
“He doesn't feel like a young player to me,” Smith said, “because he sees the game so well. He understands football. He's so smart.”
As Smith introduced new concepts to mesh with Day’s system, it never took Sayin long to show his acumen.
“Sometimes I have to pull him back and be like, 'Hey, you've got to let everybody else catch up to you,’ " Smith said. “We talk about one thing, and he's ready. But that’s a great problem to have. I’m super impressed with him.”
Sayin felt his year behind center helped with his base of knowledge, as well as the offseason months together with Smith.
He said his grasp of the schemes deepened between spring practice and preseason training camp.
“Me in spring compared to me now with the understanding of the offense has grown so much,” Sayin said.
Sayin’s capacity for absorbing new ideas and handling additional responsibilities leaves their play-caller with more options building an offense around the more established quarterback.
Smith highlighted Sayin’s command as a quality that could allow them to manipulate cadence and tempo as well as manage other adjustments before the snap, phases he described as “the games within the games.”
“When you have a quarterback like Julian,” Smith said, “he can handle that stuff.”
There are ripple effects to Sayin’s growth. It permeates the field.
“To watch him take command of the huddle and take command of the line of scrimmage protection calls and shifts and that kind of thing, it's confidence building for everyone on the field,” Hinzman said. “You don’t want a leader who is shaky.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow him on @joeyrkaufman on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Julian Sayin has a bigger voice and more responsibility for Ohio State football
