If Buckeyes fans were worried about Julian Sayin after the season-opening win against Texas, their concerns should be minimal after what we have seen through the last two games.
On the other side, the Buckeyes’ defensive line is, once again, a formidable unit. Larry Johnson has done it again, navigating turnover at the position and still managing to make this front an impact group.
Sayin and the defensive line are the focus in this week’s Beyond the Box Score.
Julian Sayin shows off his arm strength
Truthfully, Sayin’s arm strength flashed
in the season opener against Texas. His 40-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate in the fourth quarter extended the Buckeyes’ lead to 14-0. But thinking back to that throw, it brings to mind a point that Chris Simms made on the broadcast Saturday night.
Sayin threw two deep-ball touchdowns on Saturday night, one to Tate and the other to Jeremiah Smith. On one of the touchdowns, Simms mentioned how when Sayin throws it deep, he throws it high. Because he throws his deep balls with a lot of air underneath them, that gives the receivers time to establish position and make the catch.
It’s an underrated part of Smith’s and Tate’s games to be able to win those jump balls and establish position on deep throws. Sayin throwing his deep shots with a lot of hang time allows for Smith and Tate to act like they’re outfielders gaining room to catch fly balls.
After throwing for just 120 yards against Texas, Sayin has thrown for over 300 yards in each of his last two starts. He hasn’t gotten to 300 yards just by dinking and dunking, either. Sayin completed 18 and 25 passes, respectively, in each of his last two starts, completing most of his passes well beyond the line of scrimmage.
Sayin looks the part at quarterback, and the arm strength is not a concern.
Defensive line gets after Ohio
After losing so many players along their defensive line this past offseason, it was fair to expect it to be a few games before this new-look defensive line made an impact. Well, it only took three games for that impact to be made.
Ohio came into Saturday night’s game with a dynamic offense led by Parker Navarro. The Buckeyes’ defensive line did an excellent job of not letting Navarro get out of the pocket. When backup quarterback Nick Poulos came in for the Bobcats after Navarro’s injury, they put him way off schedule and made him uncomfortable in the pocket.
It looked hard for the Bobcats to move the ball the entire game. Whether it was Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Eddrick Houston, Beau Atkinson, Caden Curry, etc., these Buckeyes defensive linemen are coming into their own at the right time.
Outside of the stats, Curry had a sack late in the second quarter where he was practically being pulled down to the turf. He still managed to wrap an arm around Poulos and pull him down to the ground. That shows the strength of this defensive line. This is going to be a great development as we enter Big Ten play.
The Buckeyes get a lot of attention for their development of wide receivers. However, their defensive line has also featured many great players who have gone on to prominent NFL careers. There may be one or more players on this defensive line who emerge as a can’t-miss prospect and go on to be a prominent fixture at the next level.
