COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State Buckeyes secured a 24-6 road win against Washington on Saturday, but the victory has done little to quell growing questions about the coaching staff’s handling of talented freshman quarterback Julian Sayin.
On the latest episode of Buckeye Talk, hosts Stephen Means and Stefan Krajisnik raised concerns that coaches Ryan Day and Brian Hartline might be “helicopter parenting” their young signal-caller.
“They trust Julian, but they want to wrap their arms around and be like, ‘But we’re we’re going to help you as much as we can,’” Krajisnik said. “Sometimes you just have to throw him into the deep end and see what happens, right? Is he going to swim or is he going to drown? Everything he’s shown you shows that he’s going to swim.”
The frustration from both hosts stems from Ohio State’s apparent reluctance to unleash Sayin’s full capabilities, instead opting for a conservative approach that put the quarterback in difficult third-down situations early vs. the Huskies.
In the first half against Washington, the Buckeyes ran 15 times compared to just 10 passes, leaving Sayin with little opportunity to establish rhythm in the passing game.
Means highlighted this problematic pattern.
“They got into run on first down, running it on second down and now it’s third and long, and now Julian’s supposed to sit back there and pick a defense,” Means said. “I get it: on the road, rough environment, if you establish the run you can take the crowd out of the game. But I guess that my rebuttal to that has always been, ‘You know how you can also take the crowd out of the game? Touchdowns. Scoring touchdowns.’”
What makes the situation particularly perplexing is that when the Buckeyes finally opened up the passing game in the second half, the offense flourished. Ohio State scored 17 points after halftime on essentially three possessions, with Sayin showing exactly why the coaching staff should trust him.
The contrast between the first and second halves only reinforced the hosts’ belief that the coaches are being unnecessarily cautious with their talented freshman. Sayin’s poise was evident throughout the game, with Krajisnik noting a moment during a replay review when the quarterback was smiling on the sideline, completely unfazed by the hostile road environment.
Here’s the podcast for this week: