Ohio State Buckeyes QB Julian Sayin is in Deep Trouble

Ohio State Buckeyes football is officially back, as they had their first practice of fall camp on Thursday. Attempting to repeat as national champions, Ohio State has plenty of questions to answer, and perhaps none are more pressing than what is going on with Julian Sayin.

Sayin has long been expected to succeed Will Howard as the Buckeyes' starting quarterback heading into 2025, and Howard himself said Sayin was up next after last season ended. Heck, Sayin was already generating Heisman Trophy buzz back in February in spite of throwing a grand total of 12 passes during his debut campaign in Columbus.

But now, here we are, and Sayin finds himself locked in a slugfest of a competition with Lincoln Kienholz to win Ohio State's quarterback job.

Sayin didn't exactly have the greatest spring, which allowed Kienholz — the clear underdog — to gain significant ground on him in the battle. Ryan Day said the two were neck and neck back in March, and now in August, not much has changed as Day still refuses to identify a favorite.

As a matter of fact, Sayin actually got off to a rather inauspicious start on Thursday, throwing an interception during 7-on-7 red-zone drills and also overthrowing another receiver, via Eleven Warriors. He did recover in 11-on-11s, so maybe we can just chalk Sayin's initial mistakes up to jitters.

But it is definitely possible that the pressure of being the Buckeyes' No. 1 quarterback is getting to the 19-year-old, who comes with massive expectations attached to him.

Sayin is a former five-star recruit who is widely regarded as one of the most talented signal-callers in the country. A true dual threat, Sayin is expected to take Ohio State's offense to another dimension, especially with pass-catchers like Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and transfer tight end Max Klare at his disposal.

However, just because Sayin is immensely talented does not necessarily mean it will translate into on-field success. At least not immediately, anyway. Heck, look no further than Oklahoma's Jackson Arnold, who joined the Sooners with similar expectations but has fallen flat thus far.

It stands to reason that Sayin could get it together fairly quickly in camp and ultimately blow Kienholz out of the water. He then might go on to establish himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the country this year. It could absolutely happen.

But right now, at this juncture, there is very little question that Sayin is in deep trouble, and he must recover quickly if he wants to truly separate himself from Kienholz and live up to his lofty billing.