Ohio State fans are genuinely split between Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith for the Heisman. And honestly, that’s their biggest problem this season. Their situation mirrors Alabama’s 2020 dilemma with DeVonta Smith and Mac Jones. With three weeks left in the regular season, analysts can’t agree on who deserves the spotlight in New York next month. However, according to one Michigan legend, the race isn’t even close; it would put him one above Urban Meyer’s top pick for the Heisman.

On November 14, former Michigan tight end Jake Butt joined a podcast and delivered three straight reasons why Julian Sayin should be the heavy favorite over his WR1. “No one’s playing the position of quarterback better than Julian.” Even though Sayin is just a redshirt freshman, Butt explained that he plays “like a guy well beyond his years in terms of experience.”

He then broke down their game against Penn State. In the first quarter, Sayin faced a tough moment when his running back missed a block. Instead of forcing a risky throw, he flipped his hips like Michael Jackson, set his feet, and delivered the ball perfectly. The man smoothly avoided a clean sack on that play.

Can bet 95% of D1 would have eaten that one out. What makes Sayin special is his unreal accuracy. Last month, Jake even compared him to an Olympic-level archer because of how precise he is.

King Julian can place the ball pretty much wherever he wants, and his completion percentage is out of this world. Nick Saban’s highly touted QB leads the nation with an 80.9% completion rate. Plus, he’s thrown for 2,491 yards and 24 touchdowns with just four picks. Two of them aren’t his fault at all. Butt didn’t stop there.

He highlighted another play from the Purdue game where Sayin ran a half-boot rollout that nudged the safety just enough to create a tiny window 45-yard bomber to his Heisman competition, aka Jeremiah Smith. The final play of the clip was against Penn State. Sayin saw a pre-snap double-team on Smith, which looked like a tricky situation. However, he read the safety perfectly and threw a 54-yard pass downfield.

Butt couldn’t contain his excitement: “That is 54 yards of air. Another frozen rope dime to the best wide receiver in all of college football. Yes, they have talent, but Dave, fundamentally, technically, Julian says it is the best quarterback in college football.”

Butt concluded that Julian Sayin’s combination of smart decisions, technical skill, and accuracy makes him the best quarterback in college football today. But this doesn’t take anything far away from Jeremiah Smith.

Urban Meyer’s Heisman pick

When Urban Meyer speaks, you need to listen. The former Buckeye HC picked wide receiver Jeremiah Smith over Julian Sayin earlier this week on his Triple Option podcast. Meyer showered Jeremiah Smith with the best praises possible: “(He’s) the best football player in the country. And I would probably challenge anybody – the best player in America is Jeremiah Smith.” The former 5-star is having another tremendous year: 862 yards, 10 tuddies, and 65 catches.

However, fellow analyst and former Alabama star Mark Ingram threw a massive wrench into Meyer’s prediction. The former Ravens RB argued that Smith might not put up the vast numbers needed for a wide receiver to win the award. He pointed to DeVonta Smith’s legendary 2020 season, where the Alabama receiver had 117 catches, 1,856 yards, 23 touchdowns, plus more than 200 yards in the return game. For Jeremiah Smith to match that level, he’d need nearly 1,000 more yards in just a few remaining games, which is almost impossible this late in the season.

Meyer put Julian Sayin third on his Heisman list, but he admitted that if voters really treat the Heisman as a quarterback award, Sayin should win it. With a little over a month to go, the Buckeyes’ Heisman race is still wide open. Fans will soon find out whether it’s Smith, Sayin, or maybe even both who end up heading to New York City for the ceremony.