Julian Sayin put up big stats as a redshirt freshman. Now, says Ryan Day, his quarterback has to be a guy who wins big games. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Ryan Day did not wait until the end of spring practice to deliver the most important message of the month for the Ohio State football team. The Buckeyes will go as Julian Sayin goes.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Columbus, OH — Spring football is only about halfway over at Ohio State, but we heard the most important message Monday.
Oh sure, we’ve already spent a lot of time discussing new starters, transfers, new coaches and injuries.
Five more interview sessions and the spring game are still to go before the Buckeyes adjourn for the summer, and we’re bound to learn a few more things that could be key pieces to the puzzle when all is said and done.
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We’ll have another four months to talk about all that stuff, so we better pace ourselves (even if the Reds are good enough to be more than an occasional distraction deep into the summer).
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Yet, Ryan Day offered a preview of the final essay question the 2026 Buckeyes will need to ace to reach their potential and perhaps claim national title No. 10 (not to mention finally win the Big Ten again).
Ohio State’s head coach spoke about many different topics, but the heaviest message came when discussing expectations for his quarterback.
“Well, I think the first thing is just command of the whole operation — understanding that he’s the guy that’s in charge,” Day said Monday. “We’re constantly looking for him to run the offense at a high level, and so the expectation is more than it was last year.”
Hard to be clearer than that, right?
Well, there’s more.
“Everything that he did last year was for the first time,” Day said. “This year, we know what he can do, so he’s gotta take those next steps.”
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In case you forgot, Sayin led the nation in completion percentage (77.0 pct.) and was second in QB rating (177.5) last season as a redshirt freshman. He finished fourth nationally with 32 touchdown passes and 10th in yards with 3,610 yards.
That got him recognition as Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and he received The Shaun Alexander Award as the national freshman of the year while being a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award and Davey O’Brien Award (national QB of the year).
Julian Sayin enjoyed a great season in 2025, but head coach Ryan Day raised the stakes for the 2026 season.
Pretty good debut season, sure, but what did it get him?
Besides a pair of gold pants for beating Michigan, not much.
(That is not for nothing, of course, since the last Ohio State quarterback to beat the Wolverines was Justin Fields in 2019, a remarkable thing since every Ohio State quarterback before him beat Michigan at lease once since Steve Bellisari, who was 0-2 against the Wolverines before Craig Krenzel engineered the 2001 upset in place of the suspended southpaw.)
Sayin enters his redshirt sophomore season 12-0 as a starter in the regular season and 0-2 in the postseason, a stark delineation that feeds perceptions in a social-media driven world that is far too black and white when it comes to evaluations.
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Sayin’s fall from wunderkind on the verge of claiming the Heisman and possibly Big Ten and national championships for himself was rapid.
Snow began to fall on the Buckeyes as they finished off the Wolverines on Nov. 30 in Ann Arbor, and their title hopes never thawed.
Julian Sayin was 12-0 as a starter until the Buckeyes ran into Indiana and Miami.
That also means folks have spent a lot more time focusing on what Sayin didn’t do last season than what he did.
Forget his uncanny accuracy and quick decision making or his ability to pick up the offense quickly.
He’s a little undersized, can’t or won’t run and sometimes misses open receivers or doesn’t pull the trigger on potential big plays, the critics say.
Well, at least it’s good to know where a guy can improve, eh?
“We’ve talked before about just the physicality of standing in the pocket, being able to escape and make plays with his feet when that’s appropriate, but he’s gotta be at his best on third down and in the red zone and in two minute (drills),” Day said. “We know we’re gonna have to win games in the fourth quarter looking at our schedule, so we need him to be on his stuff when it comes to that. And when you’re young, typically what happens is we try to protect the young quarterback through running the ball, defense, and all that.”
Here’s the real money line:
“Well, he’s not young anymore, so now he’s gotta help some of those other guys around him and make everybody on the field better.”
Whew!
If that didn’t strike you as unusually candid, of being exquisitely to the point, well, you’re fortunate enough to not have attended as many press conferences as I have over the last 20-plus years.
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Coaches don’t get much more direct than that, but for this one time at least we can all be thankful.
Let’s say it again:
When all is said and done, 2026 Ohio State football will go as Julian Sayin goes.
We’ve got that on no less authority than Ryan Day, who let’s not forget hasn’t actually had that expectation for his quarterback since C.J. Stroud’s second season (2022).
“Well, he’s not young anymore, so now he’s gotta help some of those other guys around him and make everybody on the field better.” – Ryan Day on quarterback Julian Sayin
The coach said he was just looking for a distributor when picking between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown, and that was more or less the expectation for Will Howard out of the transfer portal in 2024.
A steady hand to make sure the fast guys got the ball where they could be dangerous.
For his part, Sayin seems to be aware of the stakes.
He spoke at the beginning of spring and said the right things about running more and stepping into a bigger leadership role.
Whether he gets it — or is even capable of such things — will have to wait to be seen.
“(Quarterbacks coach Billy) Fesler tells us that elite quarterbacks are great when the situations are bad, so just being able to get us out of bad situations and make plays for our offense I think is going to be important,” Sayin said.
And how did he feel he handled that last year?
“I think I could have been better in some areas and given us a better chance in some areas,” Sayin said.
In a day and age when self-awareness lacks like never before, Sayin seems to have a good grasp on what he has and hasn’t done so far.
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That is encouraging, as is Day’s decision to throw down the gauntlet in early April.
Yes, the other eight position groups are important, but Day saying that Monday was still sort of a eureka moment after multiple weeks of assessing the situation with the lines, backs (running and defensive alike), receivers, tight ends and linebackers.
The quarterback can be the cheat code, covering up deficiencies and enhancing both strengths and areas that might be just average. He was that every year for a decade at Ohio State — until he wasn’t.
Last season, more effort was focused on maximizing every other position so the quarterback could be just OK.
That made the most sense, and Sayin mostly did a great job for a first-year starter.
Julian Sayin was good enough to beat Michigan. Now he has to be good enough to win games in December and January.
He never did replace the intangibles of Howard, the leader imported from Kansas State after a season at the mercy of mercurial McCord, but was he asked to?
Ultimately if there was supposed to be a transition from caretaker to playmaker for the offense, no one ever flipped the switch.
I don’t think the coaches ever expected lots of leadership from Sayin given the circumstances. They had the team around him to make that a moot point, or so it was hoped.
Close but no cigar.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. Great leadership wouldn’t be a nice bonus from the quarterback this fall. It’s going to be essential. Sayin needs to be the fixer, the guy with all the answers in the running and passing games.
Don’t let a run play go into the teeth of the defense.
Get the protection right to avoid free hitters that disrupt pass plays before they get started.
Find the open man and get him the ball ASAP.
Keep the defense guessing, and most importantly will the team to victory when all else fails.
(Remember that Fernando Mendoza touchdown run in the national title game for Indiana?)
Leave no doubt, as Day said multiple times during that 2024 national championship season.
Sayin probably already knew that, but now Day has declared it to the world.
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