Claim:
The Ohio State University quarterback Julian Sayin donated $1.2 million in performance and sponsorship earnings to fund homeless support centers.
Rating:
A rumor that circulated online in October 2025 claimed the Ohio State University quarterback Julian Sayin donated $1.2 million in performance and sponsorship earnings to fund homeless support centers. According to the story, Sayin’s money would fund an initiative to help create 150 housing units and 300 shelter beds for people living in his “Ohio hometown,” according to the rumor.
Snopes readers searched our website for phrases including “Julian Sayin donation” and “Did Julian sayin donate his pay?”
On Oct. 26, a user managing the Buckeye Pride Forever Facebook page posted (archived) the claim and received tens of thousands of engagements. Other Facebook users also shared the claim.
(Buckeye Pride Forever/Facebook)
The Buckeye Pride Forever page’s post featured a link to an advertisement-filled WordPress blog article. The post read as follows:
BREAKING NEWS: Julian Sayin, rising quarterback of Ohio State Buckeyes football, has donated his entire $1.2 million in performance and sponsorship earnings to fund a series of homeless support centers in his hometown region of Ohio. The initiative will help create 150 housing units and 300 shelter beds for those in need, offering safety, dignity, and a chance at rebuilding lives.
Full story: https://chiflash.blog/…/breaking-news-ohio-state…
In short, the rumor Sayin donated $1.2 million to fund homeless support centers was false. The OhioStateBuckeyes.com website listed his hometown as Carlsbad, California — not a town in Ohio.
Snopes contacted Ohio State’s athletics department to ask if they wished to comment about this false rumor. We also inquired with the Buckeye Pride Forever page about the nature of their content and will update this story if we receive further information.
Foreign efforts, AI and similar rumors
Facebook users residing outside the U.S. entirely fabricated the rumor claiming Sayin donated $1.2 million to fund homeless support centers. The Buckeye Pride Forever Facebook page’s “page transparency” tab revealed their managers resided in the Philippines and Vietnam.
The advertisements appearing with the WordPress blog article — containing text resembling stories generated with artificial-intelligence (AI) tools — indicated a clear profit motive.
The article ended with several sentences of forward-thinking, dramatized statements in the same way AI tools conclude similar fabricated stories. For example, the final two sentences read as follows:
As the Ohio State community rallies around Sayin’s efforts, the impact of his generosity will be felt for years to come. This story serves as a reminder that, in a world often marked by division and challenges, acts of kindness and compassion can create lasting change and inspire others to join in the fight for a better tomorrow.
Other Facebook users shared variants of the same story about other famous people donating their “entire $1.2 million in performance and sponsorship earnings to fund a series of homeless support centers,” including actor Keanu Reeves (archived), country music singer Cody Johnson (archived), University of Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Julian Lewis (archived) and singer-songwriter Neil Young (archived).
Similar rumors mentioning Sayin
Facebook users also shared other fabricated rumors about Sayin in October 2025.
One claim alleged Sayin planned to donate a game’s “prize money to support homeless children and children with disabilities.” Other claims said Sayin was building a sanctuary for addicts, ex-convicts and lost kids in an initiative named “FIELD OF GRACE” (archived), as well as launching (archived) a project to bring in donations and winter coats for “the homeless community in Ohio State.”
Users residing outside the U.S. fabricated those stories too, including with links leading to advertisement-filled articles featuring AI-generated text.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on another story claiming Ohio State fired their head football coach Ryan Day on Dec. 1, 2024, one day following the football team’s 13-10 loss to Michigan.
