Inside The Huskies

Just Sayin, QB Makes Buckeyes His Team

The California native passed on playing for Kalen DeBoer twice.
Dan Raley|
Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10) throws one with good protection.
Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10) throws one with good protection. | Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When he played for Carlsbad High School north of San Diego, 5-star quarterback Julian Sayin wore a purple helmet.

And when the University of Washington made him a scholarship offer in May 2022, Sayin enthusiastically posted the news using a photo of Asa Turner, a Carlsbad player well before his time there and a starting Husky safety at the moment.

Yet none of this persuaded Sayin to come north and play for Kalen DeBoer's team in Montlake. The signal-caller narrowed his choices to SEC teams only, ultimately selecting Alabama over Georgia and LSU.

Yet Sayin would encounter DeBoer once more when the Crimson Tide hired the coach away from Washington in January 2024, but their connection was short-lived.

Briefly an early enrollee on campus, Sayin entered the transfer portal, leaving a day after former UW freshman quarterback Austin Mack announced he was following DeBoer to Tuscaloosa.

This weekend, Sayin enters Husky Stadium as the starting quarterback for top-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State, demonstrating how college football has its own six degrees of separation practically keeping everyone connected somehow.

Taking it another layer, the 6-foot-1, 207-pound sophomore ironically is backed up by former UW commit Lincoln Kienholz. They went head to head for the No. 1 Buckeyes job throughout fall camp before Sayin pulled away.

Once things turned real, the Southern California prodigy came out and quarterbacked the Buckeyes to victories over Texas (14-7), Grambling State (70-0) and Ohio (37-9) before taking a week off for bye.

Quarterback was Ohio State's biggest question mark when mulling a second national championship run. Sayin has passed every test so far, including guiding the Buckeyes past then top-ranked Texas in his first starting assignment.

"There’s a lot to like," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "He's very smart. He makes quick decisions. The ball comes out of his hand, he's accurate. He's improved. He wants to be good. He knows what it takes."

Sayin finally finds himself in Husky Stadium, but it's only for a visit. He'll try to keep the Buckeyes momentum going, while showing UW fans what they missed.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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