Texas Defense Not Scared of Ohio State Redshirt-Freshman Quarterback

As the Longhorns are just about a week and a half out from their first game of the season against No. 3-ranked Ohio State, the Buckeyes’ head coach announced on Monday who his starting quarterback would be when they face No. 1 Texas.

The starting job was up for grabs after Will Howard went to the NFL and Devin Brown transferred to Cal, leaving redshirt-freshman Julian Sayin and junior Lincoln Kienholz to fight over who would start in the Ohio State-Texas rematch.

After a long and strenuous competition, Day officially announced that Sayin would be the starter come Week 1. Sayin is formerly an Alabama enrollee and was ranked as the No. 2 QB out of high school in the class of 2024.

Rated as a top-10 player in the nation, Sayin was offered by Sarkisian and the Longhorns. However, when the time came, he ultimately picked Alabama and decided to enroll at the school early, joining the Crimson Tide in January.

It wasn’t long until former Alabama head coach Nick Saban announced his retirement, leading Sayin to enter the transfer portal nine days later and find a home in Columbus no more than 48 hours after.

He then joined the Buckeyes, sitting behind Howard and Brown during a season in which Ohio State beat Texas in the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs, and ultimately beat Notre Dame to win the National Championship.

So now, as both teams prepare for a top-3 rematch to start the season, Ohio State will enter the game with a redshirt-freshman, meanwhile Texas will enter the game with an extremely talented and experienced defense.

Texas has the upper hand in this fight, given that a quarterback with no experience will face a defense that has a lot of it, and that the Texas coaching staff will be somewhat familiar with his talents as they recruited him and had him attend a couple of camps.

When speaking to the media on Monday, Sarkisian only had good things to say about the quarterback.

“Came to camp with us, I think two years in a row, we’ve got a lot of familiarity with him. Obviously a California kid,” Sarkisian said. Very good player, elite passer, very good arm talent, very quick release, really accurate guy, and obviously, he’s got great weapons around him. He’s the type of guy that can utilize those weapons in a good system. Poses a heck of a challenge.”

Although everything Sarkisian said may be true, it also could have been meant for motivation for his defense, which is the way that standout EDGE Colin Simmons seems to be taking it. Following the announcement that Sayin would be the quarterback that the Longhorns will be facing, Simmons took to Instagram, simply reposting a picture of the quarterback.

The post could be taken very lightly with no meaning. However, for Texas fans, it’s easy to see what it could mean. Simmons is quite a ruthless pass rusher who hits hard and backs down from no one. Defensive teammate and star linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. spoke to the media about spoke on Simmons and the post

“He’s a guy that’s gonna go out there and play and be ready,” Hill said. “I know he’s gonna back it up and be ready to go.”

Simmons will be ready to go, and so will the rest of the defense. A strong Texas defense will all have the back of each other and be ready to go get revenge against a team that ended its championship hopes last season.

Texas fans can expect to see one of the best defenses under Sarkisian’s so far hit the field when the Longhorns travel to Columbus on Aug. 30 and kick off at 11 AM CT on FOX. Ohio State is currently favored by two and a half points, according to BetMGM.