Ohio State keeps stacking preseason honors, and the latest round brought a familiar pair of names.
Quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith were both included on the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s 2026 Player of the Year preseason watch list, announced Monday. The award, first handed out in 1967, goes to the top player in college football and is voted on by the sport’s 138 FBS head coaches and sports information directors. It stands as the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football honor.
Sayin enters 2026 coming off a huge first season as the starter. In 2025, he completed 77.0 percent of his passes, setting a Big Ten record and posting the third-best single-season mark in FBS history.
He threw for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns, a line that helped him collect Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, finish fourth in the Heisman voting and become a finalist for the Walter Camp, Manning and Davey O'Brien awards. He is also the only finalist from any of last year’s major individual awards still playing college football in 2026.
Smith’s résumé is already loaded. Through his first two seasons, the junior receiver has piled up 2,558 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns, the most by any Big Ten receiver over that span.
Walter Camp has recognized him as an All-American in each of the last two years, giving him a second-team nod as a true freshman and a first-team selection in 2025. He was also placed on Walter Camp’s 2026 Preseason All-America First Team in June.
For both Buckeyes, the watch list is just the latest addition to a growing collection of preseason recognition. Sayin and Smith were already on the Maxwell Award watch list with teammate Bo Jackson, and both earned ESPN Preseason All-America honors last week. On Monday, Texas led all schools with four players on the Walter Camp list.
The field will get narrowed down from there, with 10 semifinalists set for early November and three finalists announced in December before the winner is revealed at ESPN’s College Football Awards Show.
Ohio State opens the 2026 season trying to build on last year’s national championship run, and the Buckeyes’ chances of another big year figure to run right through Sayin and Smith.
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