Julian Sayin Explains Decision To Transfer To Ohio State

As a high schooler, current Ohio State freshman quarterback Julian Sayin always seemed to favor playing his collegiate career at Alabama, despite the attempts from other schools to sway him their way. 

It wasn’t until the retirement of former Alabama head coach Nick Saban that the Buckeyes broke through to secure the former five-star quarterback from Carlsbad, Calif. According to Sayin, head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes’ pursuit of him out of high school made for an easy connection when he entered the transfer portal.

“When I entered the transfer portal, I knew Coach Day, we had a good relationship throughout the recruiting process,” Sayin said. “And then I ended up getting here and then (offensive coordinator Chip Kelly) came here and me and him had a good relationship through the recruiting process… So it was just a good fit all around and I couldn’t be happier to be here.”

Sayin’s decision to enter the portal was primarily due to the retirement of Saban, who the 6-1 signal caller committed to Alabama to play for. Sayin didn’t have much of a relationship established with the new regime led by current Alabama coach, Kalen DeBoer and decided to transfer not long after Saban’s retirement

With many suitors for the quarterback in the transfer portal, the Buckeyes’ track record in developing the position set them apart, according to Sayin.

“I felt like there was really good quarterback development here,” Sayin said. “Coach Day is a great quarterback whisperer. The quarterbacks they’ve had just in the past five years have put up great numbers and just really done things the right way. I wanted to come into this offense and be coached by him and by Coach Kelly.”

In his short time with Ohio State, Sayin has done nothing but impress. The justified hype surrounding Sayin’s throws and scrambles in fall practices culminated with a couple of reps with the first-team offense. While Sayin wasn’t perfect in his time going up against one of the best defenses – if not the best – in the country, he still gave Buckeye fans something to be excited about. Still, Kelly insists Sayin’s brief experience with the first team might not be as big of a deal as some may think.

“Julian’s great, but I wouldn’t read into it,” Kelly said. “He may have gotten with the ones because in the rotation the whole group was changing on the fours but the quarterbacks were changing on the twos, so it just matched up that he was with the ones. I tell our guys, ‘I don’t really care what group you’re in, I care about how do you execute, what is your assignment, do you have a plan when you get into the line of scrimmage and do you execute that plan?’”

As good as some of his throws have been, the key for Sayin has been his decision making, according to the California native. Sayin said through his decision making he hopes to be someone his offensive coordinator can trust.

Sayin’s knack for mental processing dates back to his early days in high school where he learned from his brother, Aidan who currently plays at Ivy league school, Penn.

“I was always around football,” Sayin said. “My brother’s a quarterback at Penn, so he was a quarterback when I was in high school, and I was always kind of just following around in his footsteps… And always just having been in high-level offenses in high school and having a lot on my plate (helps with decision-making).”

Though some fans may be impatient to see Sayin get on the field and lead the Buckeyes offense, the former Alabama quarterback has his sights set on developing in Day’s offense.

“I’m just really trying to develop and take coaching points from Coach Day and then Coach Kelly too,” Sayin said. “I just want to develop and run the offense the way they want it.”