Julian Sayin’s preseason stock keeps climbing, and now the Ohio State quarterback has landed on the Manning Award Preseason Watch List heading into the 2026 season. It’s the fifth preseason watch list nod for the junior, who is entering his second year as the Buckeyes’ starter.
Sayin had already shown up on the Maxwell and Walter Camp watch lists, both tied to college football’s top player. He also earned a place on the Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list, which goes to the nation’s top upperclassman quarterback, and the Davey O’Brien Award watch list, which honors the country’s best quarterback.
The résumé from his first season starting in Columbus is hard to miss. Sayin won his first 12 starts, finished as a Heisman Trophy finalist and led the nation with a program- and Big Ten-record 77.0% completion rate. He threw for 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He also stacked up six 300-yard passing games. Two of the best came against Minnesota and Wisconsin, when he completed more than 85% of his throws and had at least three touchdowns without an interception.
The Manning Award itself dates back to 2004 and is presented each year by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. What makes it different from the other major quarterback awards is that postseason performance counts too. Finalists are set before bowl season, and the winner is chosen after the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the award for the 2025 season after leading Indiana to a national championship.
Sayin’s next big spotlight arrives quickly. In Week 2, Ohio State travels to Austin to face Texas and Arch Manning, Peyton’s nephew, in a rematch of the Longhorns’ 14-7 loss in Columbus in Week 1 last season. Arch Manning is also on the Manning Award Preseason Watch List.
When Manning was in Columbus earlier this summer for the Memorial Tournament pro-am, he talked about the matchup.
“It’s two great programs, and I think both teams will be really good this year,” Manning said about the upcoming game. “Pulling hard for my nephew this fall, looking forward to watching him play.
I might find my way down to Austin for that game. That should be a good one.”
He also said Sayin would be at the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana, where he worked as a camp counselor and instructor for high school players in late June.
“Looking forward to seeing him,” Manning said about Sayin. “I pull for all these great programs.”
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Sabans Ohio State run ended after the 1981 Liberty Bowl amid a reported disagreement in philosophy, but the split did not slow his climb. He went on to assistant stops at Navy, Michigan State and Toledo, along with NFL work, before becoming a head coach at Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. The rest of the story is familiar enough by now, with seven national championships in the background, which makes that brief, messy Columbus stop all the harder for Ohio State supporters to ignore. [Read more 🡒]