The Alabama Crimson Tide are experiencing a mass exodus of players in the wake of Nick Saban's retirement, and now the program is losing its top-ranked quarterback in freshman Julian Sayin.
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ESPN insider Pete Thamel broke the news on Friday morning that Sayin would be entering the transfer portal after arriving and enrolling at Alabama earlier in the month.
Sources: Alabama freshman quarterback Julian Sayin, the top-ranked quarterback in the class of 2024, intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Sayin is expected to initiate the transfer process on Friday, per sources. pic.twitter.com/TVpwQth7ic
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 19, 2024
Sayin arrived in Tuscaloosa at the beginning of January, coming from the west coast out of Carlsbad, California. According to 247Sports composite rankings, Sayin was the No. 1 quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class and the fifth-best player in the country. The 2023 Gatorade California Player of the Year finished his final high school season with 24 passing touchdowns and just one interception in ten games, going 9-1 in the process.
While Sayin isn't the first player to decide to transfer following the news of Saban's retirement, he may have spent the least amount of time in Tuscaloosa of any player entering the transfer portal. It's unclear where he'll decide to play for next, but Sayin did receive scholarship offers from top-tier programs like Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State as a 5-star quarterback.
New Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer will have his work cut out for him taking over for Saban. Despite his success at Washington, taking the Huskies to the national championship game, DeBoer has had to watch dozens of Alabama players entering the transfer portal, most notably superstar freshman defensive player Caleb Downs, who looks like a future top draft pick.
The good news for DeBoer is that the transfer portal works both ways, so fans will be keeping a close eye on the program to see if they're able to bring in some talent to reload for a run at the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff next season.
