Nick Saban calls himself a dumbass for playing Julian Sayin on scout team before transfer from Alabama

Nick Saban had jokes about himself when it came to Ohio State QB Julian Sayin. Sayin once played at Alabama for a brief stint before hitting the spring portal to transfer to play for the Buckeyes.

Sayin is now in the Heisman Trophy discussion as Ohio State’s starter in 2025. He left the Crimson Tide upon Saban’s retirement.

But at the time, Saban didn’t quite realize how good he’d be in college. He never got the chance to find out, but used Saturday’s College GameDay to poke fun at himself.

“I think one point I’d like to make about Julian Sayin is he was at Alabama,” Saban began. “And the coach at Alabama played him on the scout team for a whole year. What a dumbass.”

This season, Sayin is playing out of his mind for the No. 1 Buckeyes. He has 1,872 yards, 19 touchdowns, three interceptions and an 80% completion percentage. Ohio State plays Penn State Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET.

As a member of the Class of 2024, Sayin was a five-star-plus recruit out of Carlsbad (Calif.) High, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, when committed and enrolled early at Alabama. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the state, the No. 2 quarterback in the class and the No. 8 overall prospect in the class.

Julian Sayin, Ohio State ready for Penn State

Sayin and the Buckeyes’ offense are ready to run past Penn State. Despite the turmoil with the latter, the Nittany Lions won’t be overlooked by Ryan Day and crew.

Not only that, Day offered his comments the other week after James Franklin was fired. He tried to put the situation into perspective.

“James, anytime you’re somewhere for as long as he had been, he did a lot of great things,” Day said. “We had a lot of great games against each other. You take a chance to reflect on it all, but he’s going to land on his feet because he’s a really good coach. But then you’ve got to get back to work, so that’s the world we live in.

“We need to focus on what matters to us and what’s at hand. I said it before, whether it’s the positive things or negative things or things like that, those are all noise out there we need to stay focused on. There’s a lot that comes at you, whether you’re a player or a coach. Our ability to focus and concentrate on what’s important is critical. That’s what we need to do.”