Julian Sayin reveals no team reached out to him to enter Transfer Portal: 'Maybe they were calling other people'

Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin more than lived up to the hype in his first season as the Buckeyes’ starter in 2025.

The Carlsbad, CA native passed for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns with just eight interceptions, and led Ohio State to an unblemished 12-0 regular season record and an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Sayin will return to Columbus for his 2026 campaign, and will likely enter the season as one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.

In this day and age of money flying around and the emphasis put on the Transfer Portal, it would have been no surprise to hear that teams were coming out of the woodwork to entice Sayin to enter the Portal. However, this was not the case, as he revealed on Wednesday’s episode of The Triple Option Podcast.

“They weren’t calling me personally,” Sayin said. “Maybe they were calling other people, but they weren’t calling me personally. Everybody knew I was a Buckeye.”

Alabama’s Ty Simpson revealed he received massive offer to enter Portal

Another blue-blood quarterback from last season, Alabama‘s Ty Simpson, revealed that he received an alleged $6.5 million offer from Miami that had him seriously considering forgoing the draft and entering the Portal. He ultimately turned that offer down, however, and was selected with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

“I think the last offer was definitely one that I just had to sit down and consider, because it would’ve been life-changing money,” Simpson told David Pollack on the See Ball Get Ball Podcast. “It would’ve made me the highest-paid player in college, and it was something that I was like, ‘Alright, I can’t just ignore this. I have to sit down and think about it.’ That’s kind of how I am — I don’t want to do anything sporadic. I want to sit down and think it all out. And it really just came down to how I wanted to be remembered and what I wanted to do.”

It’s safe to say that expectations are through the roof for Ohio State in 2026, especially after its somber end to the 2025 season. Although it finished with an unblemished 12-0 regular season record, it fell to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and Miami in the Cotton Bowl Classic. With projected top-three pick Jeremiah Smith returning for his third season in Columbus, Sayin is on course to have a massive season for the Buckeyes.