Big Ten analyst Scott Dochterman of The Athletic seems to think that the sky is the limit for Ohio State Buckeyes sophomore quarterback Julian Sayin.

Sayin was recruited as a consensus five-star recruit, who had ultimately committed, signed, and enrolled with the University of Alabama.

However, upon the retirement of the legendary coach Nick Saban, Sayin ultimately decided that Tuscaloosa was no longer the place for him.

“When I ended up going to Alabama, I wanted to go play for Coach Saban,” Sayin told Zak Herbstreit on his show Off Script. “When he retired, I decided to transfer. Ohio State was just a big decision for me, and I was excited to make it, just because of the quarterback development history they’ve had with Coach (Ryan) Day, and, you know, the guys like Justin Fields, CJ Stroud come before… they’ve done a great job with quarterbacks.”

And it ended up working out for him.

It was possible that if he stayed at Alabama, Sayin would have to wait behind three quarterbacks until his time came. Jalen Milroe was still at the helm at the time he became a freshman, Ty Simpson had been waiting, and then new-coach Kalen DeBoer brought in Austin Mack with him.

For Sayin, he witnessed a National Championship in his first year with the Buckeyes, from watching Will Howard form a generational connection with freshman Jeremiah Smith, to a savvy veteran like Emeka Egbuka building on an already-storied career.

Ultimately, when Howard went to the NFL, the job was for the taking. 

He went toe-to-toe with Lincoln Kienholz, the four-star redshirt sophomore, while also competing with freshman Tavien St. Clair – the Ohio native who was the third ranked quarterback in the 2025 class.

Sayin came out of camp with the job, and for the former five-star quarterback, it was time to go to work.

It wouldn’t be easy out the gate though. He was tasked with taking on the University of Texas, the top-ranked preseason team in the FBS.

For a game that was incredibly anticipated by college football fans nationwide, it ended up being a not-so-spectacular game.

Ohio State came out with a 14-7 victory, and coach Day probably didn’t want to overdo it with his biggest investment. After the win, he came out with a passing touchdown, 126 passing yards on 13-of-20 passing. 

Dochterman admired how he handled the pressure, speaking on the Land-Grant Podcast and saying:

“What you can take from that is the precision that Julian Sayin played with. It was hard that first game, it’s his first career start against the number-one team in the country with a really good defense… he was just asked at that point – don’t make any mistakes, just engineer victory and that was the perfect way to approach the game in his eyes.”

The following week, even though Ohio State took on FCS Grambling State, Sayin looked the part and showed just what he was capable of.

“Sixteen straight completions, to play the way he was supposed to play there, this is the way he can play at a really high end,” Dochterman said. “It was so uneven of a matchup, but you still got to complete those passes. You still have to make sure your receivers are on time and build good chemistry, and he was able to do that.”

But it won’t be all like Grambling State, as the Buckeyes are projected to have the 17th toughest schedule in college football.

On Saturday in Week 3, they take on the Ohio Bobcats, and after a bye, they head to Seattle to face the University of Washington.

Week 3’s matchup against Ohio will kickoff at 7:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. CT, and will be streamed on Peacock.