If Nick Saban hadn't retired, and Julian Sayin was still at Alabama, who would be Ohio State's starting quarterback this season?

Thinking about quarterback possibilities after everything worked out just right to make Sayin a Buckeye

COLUMBUS — The bottom for Ohio State football in the Ryan Day era was National Signing Day on Dec. 21, 2022, when the Buckeyes were questioning not just their present but their future. Almost a month removed from a home loss to Michigan, a second straight defeat in the rivalry ensuring that the loss in 2021 wasn’t a blip, Day wasn’t just worried about Ohio State’s ability to compete now. He had to wonder if Ohio State’s ability to compete down the road would be greatly lessened by NIL, and what Ohio State was and wasn’t able to do with it.

So on that day, with two straight Michigan losses hanging over him, Day walked out of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center after talking about the Buckeyes’ new recruiting class, believing in almost any other year, in any other set of recruiting circumstances, five-star safety Caleb Downs would have been a Buckeye.

Instead, he had signed with Alabama.

Two years and two weeks later, Downs was in an OSU uniform making this tackle for a loss of 7 yards against Texas on a second-and-goal call from the 1-yard line in the closing minutes of a College Football Playoff semifinal.

Without a rare safety like Downs knifing through the line to cut out the legs of the Texas ballcarrier, the Longhorns very well might have scored a tying touchdown two plays before Jack Sawyer’s Scoop and Score.

Caleb Downs tracks down Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner to force a 7-yard loss in a College Football Playoff semifinal last season.

So thank Nick Saban for that. The retirement of Alabama’s coach after the 2023 season sent Downs into the transfer portal and onto the roster of Ohio State, where Day thought he belonged all along.

Do the Buckeyes win it all last year without Downs? It’s a valid question.

Then there’s this year, as Downs continues to patrol the OSU secondary as one of the best defensive players in college football.

Because Saban also is responsible for Ohio State’s starting quarterback. Without his retirement, Julian Sayin could very well be starting at quarterback for Alabama, for the team and coach to which he committed in the Class of 2024.

“Coach Saban, we owed him a thank you note for leaving,” Ohio State general manager Mark Pantoni said last week on Ohio State’s weekly Ryan Day radio show.