Welcome to June – also known as Talking Season – when we again look over rosters, and again predict the schedule, and again talk the year out before a single snap is taken.
Power Rankings and Way-too-Early Lists aside, QB Talk always seems to rise above the noise and drive a good deal of narratives. And, I wanted to join to discussion.
Fresh off the annual QB Impact Study, where I chart the nation’s top returning passers against their hardest opponents, I wanted to shine some light on the ones who I expect to be among the most impactful in 2026. Metrics that matter, traits that translate versus worthwhile adversaries, or “good on good”– that kinda thing.
This piece will focus on Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, one of the favorites to win the Heisman trophy this fall.
Julian Sayin — Ohio State, Impact QB No. 3
RS SO · 6’1 208 · 88.4 ESPN QBR
Trait Tags
Snappy release
Elite offensive executive
Prudent but potent
Average tools
Capped verticality
Ace accuracy
Impact Study Grades
StyleOverallCeilingFloorAccuracyMobilityArmProcessingPressure HandleElite Offensive ExecutiveB+B+AAC+BB+C+
Skinny:
An excellently efficient scheme conductor that aims to throw with emphasis. Mid playmaker and physical tools. Lethal working sideline-to-sideline. A very dependable down-to-down distributor. Prudent and picks his shots. Rarely presses and is keen on leveraging routes.
Julian Sayin’s Impact Study Pass Chart
Opponents (7): Texas (9-3), Washington (8-4), Illinois (8-4), Penn St. (6-6), and Michigan (9-3), Indiana (13-0), and Miami (10-2)
Mechanics & Processing
Sayin has a centralized and snappy throwing motion — He holds the ball tight and releases it snugly by his ear, minimising his time to launch. Without much variance in his windup, he’s one of college football’s most accurate passers. After all, scattershot slingers never end up with a 77.0% Completion%.
Mostly used within structure, he’s keen on firing from a good base and not serving up many lollipops for opponents. Passes come out with emphasis and he has enough mustard to carve the soft parts of any zone coverage. He’s a good study and hardly presses the issue.
On his drop, he can shuffle his feet some. Mechanical shoddiness also manifests in being a little front loaded after following through on his haymakers. Along with hurting his balance and mobility, an overly wide front step lowers his already suboptimal release point. For what it’s worth, Sayin experienced a number of batted attempts – long-term that’s a bummer (and a potential source for future turnovers).
With moderate size, Sayin’s surroundings can also get the better of him. In addition to the bats, he showed his age when his vision was obstructed. When routes were swallowed toward the middle or faced heavier traffic, he was more prone to buffering and eating sacks. He’s yet to trust what he cannot see; and that could prevent Sayin from being the best version of himself.
Lucky for the Buckeyes, their QB1 is an excellent pre-snap processor and wasn’t fooled too often. Though he did lock onto targets and miss seeing openings elsewhere enough for me to take note, Sayin has good peepers to scan the field, find weaknesses, and capitalize at a high clip.
Savvy and crafty, Sayin plays within himself to maximize his strengths while elevating others around him. His progression style can be seen as robotic at times, but defenses have yet to consistently prove they can disrupt his reads or game his throws for turnovers.
Nitpicks lie within his time to release. While he downloads coverages well, he often holds the ball an extra beat too long before firing. That needs to be shortened up.
He might not be the most mobile, but his habit of keeping his eyes up when climbing the pocket is encouraging; even if he sometimes has to float outside to help his vision. He’s great in rhythm and well-versed in backshoulders and leveraging routes for wins. But with average traits, his potential heavily rests in his intangibles and cerebral approach to the game.
Arm & Accuracy
Sayin’s arm talent is a couple of tiers below top-shelf requirements. But, he still can make most throws and drive attempts 50 yards downfield. Though others might question his strength, he plays with high confidence. His vertical anticipation skills were impressive for a first year starter. And in his offense, with his pass catchers, he’s more-than-capable to direct an explosive scoring play on any snap. Both his Downfield Accuracy% (49.0%) and Uncatchable (23.5%) were top10 in the Impact Study.
Sayin is a surgeon, not a field-stretcher. He still needs an extra beat to get longer throws off and lacks the juice to drive attempts when locating targets late in his drop. And while he likes backshoulders, cover2 “honeyhole” throws aren’t a strong suit at the moment. Occasionally, his lack of drive invites contests and allows defenders to make plays on his passes. However, Captain Obvious wanted me to remind you that his first-rounder teammates do wonders helping him find wins in these spots.
Aware of this shortcoming or not, he picked his shots wisely. He was much more inclined to hunt surefire completions than downfield tossups. Less than 28% of his sample traveled over ten yards past the line of scrimmage. Only Minnesota’s Drake Lindsey had a lower clip in our study.
To grease the operation and provide extra potency, Ohio State liked featuring plenty of play actions. Though many QBs experience bumps to their bottomlines off play fakes, Sayin’s returns were truly eye-popping. Behind the deception, defined reads, and clearer pictures, he captured a robust line of a 67% Success Rate, 50% First Down+TD Rate, 23% Explosive Pass Rate, 13.0 ANY/A, and 88% Adjusted Completion%. He was in his element slicing and dicing, even if he typically maintained his conservative spray.
And while haters can claim his general success was due to selection bias – passing up harder attempts for underneath rhythm throws – the stats don’t lie. At all levels, Sayin showed sound accuracy and limited examples of sour placement. Only five other P4 passers posted a Downfield Interceptable Pass Rate under 10 percent. Dante Moore was his only peer to do that and also complete over half of his downfield tries.
Mobility & Pressure
Sayin rarely beats defenses with his legs or athleticism. Though the scheme changes his launch points and manipulates his throwing windows by getting him on the move, he’s not a major threat on the ground. While failing to show open field creativity or jazz as a designed rusher, he only managed to erase 5 sacks across his 7 game sample.
When beyond the bookends, Sayin was predicated on playing hot potato and finding an outlet. And statistically, he was dynamite. He did benefit on wide open checkdowns that added easy yards, but he was nothing but efficient across a difficult slate. Posting a very green statline outside the pocket, he sports the Impact Studies top Accuracy% (68.8%) and holds the silver medal in Adjusted Completion% (92.6%) and Adjusted Uncatchable (3.6%).
On pure pressures, Sayin’s M.O. basically mirrored those attempts. He aimed short, took advantage of underneath space, and delivered excellent efficiency. Some of his deeper throws were off-target more than not, and dropping his eyes resulted in him clocking some potential dingers; but he remained a trusty point guard beating heat with his quick release. He kept the ball in play and seldomly had to throw it away.
That’s nice to know he can dink and dunk. But in such a chaotic breakout full of variables, that hardly bodes confidence he can continue to take care of business under duress. The same can be said about his ability to make game-alterating throws when staring down a blitzer.
Passing Floor / In Structure
On pure dropbacks, Sayin statsheet stayed hot. Sure, he still focused his energy short. But, his precision and discernment were undeniable. As aforementioned, play actions tricked up his output just a tad. When including RPOs, over half of his sample utilized a scheme element. Ohio State’s staff did a great job providing him with easy buttons and concocted completions. And, he simply was a bad man working in structure.
Honing in on attempts within clean pockets excluding those tactics, Sayin looks to still be a safe, high-floor dropback distributor. Down-to-down, he gutted opponents with dicing decision-making acumen. No other Impact QB bests his 56.5% Success Rate in “passing floor” breakouts. And for good measure, his First Down+TD Rate was top5.
But, he noticeably had far less teeth as a downfield passer. Even for his usual prudence of when to let it rip, he was even less likely to hunt for a homerun. While his 5.7 percent Interceptable% is a great figure, that’s not exactly the number I want for my QB’s Explosive Pass Rate when not using guises.
And despite his sterling down-to-down stats, mid placement stats presented more cracks on his resume. Both his Depth Adjusted Accuracy% and Uncatchable% comfortably fall into the back half of the Impact group.
It’s one thing hitting a wide open man after a brilliantly designed play action pattern. And, it’s another showing you can make a “gotta-have-it” downfield dime in crunch time when X’s and O’s are thrown out the window. Checkdown Charlies can be effective, put up big numbers, sport high floors and be capable conductors. But, they can only take you so far.
For Sayin to level-up to superstardom, he’s got to develop increased tenacity. Playing the odds, he probably will never develop skills to become a bankable backyard baller, so he must become more dedicated to snatching splash plays and vertical wins in rhythm.
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Bad Take Brooks see a: Drew Brees type