When Julian Sayin stepped to the podium on Thursday, he looked like a different quarterback than the one who walked off the field after losing the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
The baby face was gone.<\/p>\n
Sayin, who played much of last season without any facial hair, grew a beard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s permanent,\u201d Sayin joked. \u201cProbably not, but I didn\u2019t shave for a few days, and Austin (Siereveld) said I should keep growing it and I agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The redshirt sophomore also looked bigger. Though he\u2019s still listed at 208 pounds on the Ohio State roster, he said he has gained 5 to 10 pounds while working with strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti.<\/p>\n
Adding that weight and some speed are two of the keys to the Heisman Trophy finalist\u2019s offseason plan as he heads into his second season as the starting quarterback. He\u2019s not done yet, but there\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel bigger and stronger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sayin had a stellar debut in leading the Buckeyes to a 12-2 record, completing a national-high 77 percent of his passes with 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns, eight interceptions and finishing fourth in the Heisman race. However, the final two games, losses to national champion Indiana and runner-up Miami, showed some flaws in Ohio State\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
For Sayin, much of it came down to his pocket presence. After taking a total of seven sacks in the regular season, he was sacked 10 times in the final two games and had zero scramble yards, which coach Ryan Day said he wants to see improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of stuff with coach Mick this offseason, you know, getting stronger, more powerful and being able to run through tackles and things like that,\u201d Sayin said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a focus a lot this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayin didn\u2019t have to run to escape pressure most of the season. He was a Heisman finalist because of his special arm talent and the third-best completion percentage in FBS history.<\/p>\n
Ohio State ranked 18th in pressure rate allowed at 26.6 percent, according to TruMedia. It allowed a pressure rate over 30 just twice during the regular season. However, in the postseason, Ohio State faced two of the best defensive fronts in the country, Indiana and Miami.<\/p>\n
Quarterback coach Billy Fessler often tells his players, \u201cElite quarterbacks are great in when the situations are bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohio State wasn\u2019t in many \u201cbad\u201d situations until it played the Hoosiers and Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
Sayin threw for 545 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in the two losses, in which he was pressured a total of 29 times. He still flirted with leading comebacks, though the plays he missed stay in his mind as he works to improve on last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I\u2019m not focused on the good plays, but focused on the few plays I wish I would\u2019ve made that gave us a chance to win those games,\u201d Sayin said. \u201cI\u2019m chasing to be the best version of myself, so how can I improve in those areas?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayin is only Day\u2019s third returning starting quarterback at Ohio State, which brings higher expectations as he begins working with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have to level up,\u201d Day said. \u201cSo, whether it\u2019s someone like Aaron Rodgers, who\u2019s been in the league for decades, or it\u2019s, you know, Tavien St. Clair, who is in the second year of the program, or anybody within the program, they have to level up in terms of their football IQ. And the more information you have, the slower the game goes, so that\u2019s a big thing for (Sayin).\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayin\u2019s focus on improving pocket presence centers on knowing when to stay in the pocket to throw the ball or tuck and run. It\u2019s making plays like his scramble against Ohio, when he evaded a defensive lineman, stepped into the pocket and took a hit for the first down, only on a bigger scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a fun offseason because there\u2019s things we did good last year that we can do so much better,\u201d Sayin said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s cleaner feet in the pocket, taking off when we need to on third down, there\u2019s a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Ohio State is working in spring practice with no-contact quarterback drills, making it hard to replicate the threat of an in-game pass rush. That\u2019s why Sayin has been emphasizing his work in the weight room, so that when the time comes, he\u2019s physically prepared to do whatever he needs to.<\/p>\n
He already looks bigger, and time will tell if he\u2019s faster. Sayin is cognizant that he\u2019s entering a period of his career where he must \u201clevel up.\u201d And that means using his legs to pair with an elite arm to get Ohio State back to the national championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about being able to get us out of bad situations and make plays for our offense,\u201d Sayin said. \u201cI could\u2019ve been better in some areas and given us a better chance in some areas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Julian Sayin stepped to the podium on Thursday, he looked like a different quarterback than the one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-809981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}