Who is Julian Sayin? Meet Ohio State’s new QB1 replacing Will Howard originally appeared on The Sporting News
The Ohio State Buckeyes will look to defend their national title in 2025. In Week 1, they face the No. 1 Texas Longhorns at home on Saturday at Noon ET. Ohio State is listed as a slight 1.5-point favorite against the Longhorns.
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OSU will have a new quarterback under center with last year’s starter, Will Howard, now in the NFL. The 2025-26 Buckeyes will turn to Julian Sayin as their new signal caller.
Sayin enters 2025 as a true sophomore with four years of eligibility left in Columbus. As the Buckeyes look to reload this season, head coach Ryan Day is hoping for a big year from his new QB. Let’s take a look at Sayin’s backstory, recruiting history and more ahead of Ohio State’s huge opening weekend matchup.
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Who is Julian Sayin?
Julian Sayin is Ohio State’s new quarterback. He spent last season as one of Howard’s backups. The 2025 season will be Sayin’s first crack as Ohio State’s starter, as he beat out fellow sophomore Lincoln Kienholz for the job earlier this month.
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“You’re always looking for consistency and taking care of the football,” Day said on Aug. 18 of the decision to name Sayin as OSU’s starter. “When you start with practice 1 in the spring and do a study on the entire growth over six months, you can see there’s a lot of growth made. You look at the numbers and the production, we felt like [Sayin] was in a situation where he was ready to go play in this game.
“We also feel like Lincoln’s ready to play, but overall, Julian is more consistent.”
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Sayin arrived at Columbus in the spring of 2024, following his transfer from the University of Alabama. He has seen little live game action so far in his Buckeye career, having played just 27 offensive snaps. He threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to tight end Bennett Chrisitian during Ohio State’s 56-0 victory over Western Michigan last season.
Where is Julian Sayin from?
Sayin is from Carlsbad, Calif., which sits near San Diego. Coming out of high school, Sayin was the No. 1 overall ranked quarterback prospect in the class of 2024, per 247Sports. He was the top-ranked player out of his home state of California, and ranked sixth overall in his class.
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Over his high school career, Sayin threw for 7,790 yards with 86 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions. Sayin’s older brother, Aiden, played quarterback at the University of Pennsylvania from 2021-24.
The former five-star prospect verbally signed with Alabama in Dec. 2023 despite holding offers from the likes of Texas, USC, Michigan and Ohio State. But his career in Tuscaloosa lasted just a couple of months, as the quarterback transferred to Ohio State shortly after Nick Saban retired in Jan. 2024.
MORE: CFP projections | Bowl projections | Composite preseason Top 2W5
Why did Julian Sayin transfer from Alabama?
The main reason behind Sayin’s transfer appeared to be tied to Saban’s retirement. The quarterback committed to play for the legendary college football head coach in Tuscaloosa.
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“I came [to Alabama] because of Coach Saban,” Sayin said via Sports Illustrated in Aug. 2024. “We had a great relationship throughout the recruiting process. I love Coach Saban and I really wanted to play for him.
“The new staff that came in, we didn’t have a relationship prior to when I got there, so I just felt like it was the best decision for me to come out here.”
Sayin’s high school coach, Thadd MacNeal, added that Ohio State was a close second to Alabama throughout his recruiting process.
“They were actually No. 2 for him,” MacNeal said via 247Sports. “They were actually a close second and he visited at least two times that I know of. He loved Ryan Day and the offense and how quarterback friendly he is.
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“Ohio State has done a great job developing quarterbacks there and Julian really likes [co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach] Brian Hartline, too. He was involved recruiting Julian and they always have a great WR room at Ohio State and that’s obviously a huge deal if you’re a quarterback.” adds that
Sayin has four years of his eligibility remaining at Ohio State.
Julian Sayin age
Sayin is 20 years old, born on July 23, 2005. Although he has little college football experience, Ohio State has high hopes for him as he takes over the QB role in 2025.
