Julian Sayin Will Look to Continue History of Five-Star Ohio State Quarterbacks Becoming Second-Year Stars

Over the past 20 years, Ohio State has had four quarterbacks who were rated as five-star recruits by at least one major recruiting service that became starters for the Buckeyes in their second year of college football. All four of them – C.J. Stroud, Justin Fields, Braxton Miller and Terrelle Pryor – became stars by the end of that season.

Julian Sayin now looks to follow in their footsteps as he enters his second year of college football as the projected frontrunner to be Ohio State’s starting quarterback in 2025.

Whether Sayin is ready to be the elite quarterback he has the potential to be is one of the biggest question marks surrounding Ohio State entering spring football. The top-ranked quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class, Sayin has shown in high school and Ohio State practices that he is a crisp passer who can throw the ball with excellent accuracy, but he remains completely unproven in collegiate game action, completing just five of 12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown while playing with backups in four game appearances as OSU’s third-string quarterback last season.

But that doesn’t preclude Sayin from becoming an immediate star if he wins Ohio State’s starting job this year. Stroud – the other five-star quarterback from California to play for the Buckeyes – was a Heisman Trophy finalist and the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a redshirt freshman even though he didn’t attempt a single pass in his first season as a Buckeye. Fields hadn’t started a collegiate game when he transferred to Ohio State after one year at Georgia, and he too was a Heisman Trophy finalist and the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore.

Miller was also the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore, leading Ohio State to a 12-0 season while finishing fifth in Heisman voting. Pryor’s sophomore season at Ohio State didn’t quite reach those heights, but he still led Ohio State to a Big Ten championship and a Rose Bowl victory.

Sayin will face competition for Ohio State’s starting job this spring and summer from redshirt sophomore Lincoln Kienholz and true freshman Tavien St. Clair, who’s also a five-star recruit. The widespread expectation is that Sayin will ultimately win the job, though, given that he’s Ohio State’s only returning quarterback who attempted any passes last season.

Sayin told Eleven Warriors in December that he tried to take things one day at a time during his freshman year rather than focusing on the impending starting quarterback competition. He said he learned a lot from last year’s starting quarterback Will Howard and last year’s offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, and he looks to build on that now in his second offseason as a Buckeye.

Specifically, Sayin said his understanding of the game and reading defenses improved significantly in his first year at Ohio State. He also said he gained 20-plus pounds after arriving at OSU at just 180 pounds, and he’s looking to add another 10 pounds to his 6-foot-1 frame this offseason.

“They've taught me a lot about understanding defenses and just kind of seeing everything,” Sayin said of his first year at Ohio State. “I think this offseason will be big, I'll be with Coach Mick in the weight room.”

As we wait to see whether Sayin can lock down the starting job this offseason and follow in the footsteps of previous five-star recruits who became second-year stars leading Ohio State’s offense, we take a closer look at the successes of Ohio State’s four previous five-star second-year starting quarterbacks.

C.J. Stroud (2021)

Stroud faced some adversity early in his redshirt freshman season, suffering a shoulder injury in his first start against Minnesota before losing his second start against Oregon and struggling in his third start against Tulsa. After sitting out one game to rest his shoulder with a then-freshman McCord starting in his place against Akron, however, Stroud’s rise to stardom quickly took off.

Stroud averaged more than 385 passing yards per game in Ohio State’s final nine games of 2021. He broke a host of school records over the course of the season, culminating with the most prolific passing game in Ohio State history as he threw for 571 yards and six touchdowns in a Rose Bowl win over Utah. 

He finished the season with 4,435 passing yards and 44 passing touchdowns, both the second-best marks in school history behind only Dwayne Haskins’ 2018 season. His 186.6 passer rating for the season is the best in school history; his 71.9% completion percentage for the season was a school record until Will Howard completed 73% of his pass attempts in 2024.

Justin Fields (2019)

After seeing occasional action off the bench at Georgia in 2018, Fields became an immediate superstar in his second year of college football in 2019. 

In his first of two years as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, Fields completed 67.2% of his passing attempts for 3,273 yards and 41 touchdowns with only three interceptions while also rushing for 484 yards and 10 touchdowns, leading the Buckeyes to a 12-0 regular season and a Big Ten championship before their season ended with a College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Clemson.

His 51 total touchdowns in 2019 are the second-most in Ohio State history (also behind Haskins’ 2018 season) while his 181.4 passer rating was the school record until Stroud broke it two years later. He became just the third quarterback in Ohio State history, joining Rex Kern and Craig Krenzel, to win all of his first 13 starts for the Buckeyes.

Braxton Miller (2012)

Unlike Stroud and Fields, Miller already had starting experience entering his second year at Ohio State, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors in 2011 after replacing Joe Bauserman as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback four games into the season. It was as a sophomore, though, that Miller truly became a national star.

In his first full season as a starter, Miller was one of college football’s most dynamic playmakers, throwing for 2,039 yards and 15 touchdowns while running for 1,271 yards and 13 touchdowns, both rushing records for an Ohio State quarterback in a single season. He led the Buckeyes, who were banned from the postseason, to wins in all 12 of their games en route to winning the Silver Football as the Big Ten’s MVP to go along with his top-five Heisman finish.

Terrelle Pryor (2009)

Like Miller, Pryor entered his second year having already started for most of his freshman year at Ohio State, replacing Todd Boeckman as the Buckeyes’ top QB in the first month of the season. He went 8-1 as a starter in 2008, setting expectations sky-high for Pryor – Ohio State’s highest-rated recruit ever at the time – entering his sophomore campaign.

Pryor had far more ups and downs as a passer in 2009 than Ryan Day will hope to see from Sayin or whoever starts for Ohio State at quarterback in 2025, as Pryor completed just 56.6% of his passing attempts for 2,094 yards and 18 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Like Miller, though, Pryor was also a dynamic playmaker with his legs, rushing for 779 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore.

An All-Big Ten honorable mention, Pryor led Ohio State to a 10-2 regular season and a Big Ten championship before capping his sophomore season with his best game as a Buckeye to that point, throwing for 266 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 72 yards in a 26-17 Rose Bowl win over Oregon.