6 ‘Off Campus’ Hunks, Ranked by Their Yearning Power (So Far)
Is there anything more delicious than a good yearner? Romance lovers like us know that the answer to that is no — and the Off Campus writers seem to know that, too. In case you aren’t familiar with the art of the yearn: It’s when a person longs for someone that they can’t have. It could be for any number of reasons. Their love is unrequited, their relationship is forbidden, or they’re forced apart. The more gut-wrenching the scenario, the better.
When we asked the Off Campus cast who the best yearner of Season 1 is, their (nearly unanimous) answer surprised us: Hannah’s crush, Justin Kohl (Josh Heuston). No offense to Justin (or them), but we simply do not agree. To be fair, we consume so much romance content that we could major in yearnalism (a term our very own Avery Thompson taught to Off Campus‘ Jalen Thomas Brooks).
We’ve applied our expertise to the men of Off Campus — Garrett (Belmont Cameli), Logan (Antonio Cipriano), Dean (Stephen Kalyn), Justin, and even Tucker (Brooks) and Beau (Khobe Clarke) — and ranked them by their yearning prowess. Keep in mind, this is all based on what we’ve seen so far in Season 1. They have the opportunity to move up or down the ranks as new seasons come out, but here’s where they stand in Swooon‘s mind at present:
5. Beau Maxwell
Beau Maxwell, Briar U’s lovable star quarterback and Dean’s bestie, may flex his musical theater knowledge and advice-giving skills in Season 1, but we don’t see him yearn. But we’re optimistic about his yearning potential, especially if the show follows the books and gives him a little romantic action.
5. John Tucker
Sweet Tuck doesn’t yearn in the romantic sense in Season 1. He longs for people to get out of his kitchen and to have peace amongst his angsty friend group. Though he’s comes in last place for now, he isn’t last place in our hearts. And readers know what’s coming when the show starts to adapt his book, The Goal. We’ll give you a hint: slow burn! Book Tucker is a top-tier yearner, so we have high hopes for future show Tucker.
4. Justin Kohl
Justin, maybe if you had a little more time to shine we would’ve picked up on your yearning. In the books, it’s clear that Justin never really likes Hannah (Ella Bright), so her cutting things off with him isn’t a big deal. Heuston, however, says it’s a different story with the screen version of the character. “I think he genuinely does fall, and it’s definitely going in that direction,” he told Swooon.
3. Garrett Graham
Maybe this is a hot take, since Garrett is the star of the show in Season 1, but we’re going to stick with our gut. Garrett does have a decent yearn before he and Hannah confess their feelings to each other and get together, but it stems from his own actions. That makes it a little less powerful of a yearn. He pushes Hannah in the direction of Justin by coming up with the deal in the first place, then gets jealous. Lucky for him, Hannah realizes she has feelings for Garrett fairly quickly after Justin starts showing interest in her. She shuts Justin down and therefore shuts down Garrett’s yearn before it gets too painful.
2. John Logan
We know: We previously called Logan yearner of the year, and he is one of the best. You already know Logan’s going on Swooon‘s Best Yearners list at the end of 2026. But we’ve had some time to sit with Season 1 now, and we think he may just be edged out by a certain D-man. Hear us out!
An unrequited crush is fertile soil for a strong yearn, and even better (at least for yearning purposes) that Logan has feelings for his best friend’s girlfriend. It’s unrequited and forbidden! But here’s why Logan’s not (yet) number one: He hasn’t been outright rejected by Hannah yet. She’s oblivious to his feelings. What’s more, we could’ve used one more scene between Hannah and Logan to up the angst. (He should’ve fixed her broken bike!)
There’s a very, very real chance that Logan will move to the top of the list in Season 2, if it closely follows Elle Kennedy’s The Mistake. Logan pines not only for Hannah at the start of the book, but also for Grace. Without delving into spoiler territory, Logan’s yearning for Grace knows no bounds. But we can’t let our book knowledge impact our Season 1 ranking, hence Logan earning the silver medal in the Off Campus Yearnolympics.
1. Dean Heyward-Di Laurentis
Dean Sebastian Kendrick Heyward-Di Laurentis, the yearner that you are. On the surface, Dean may not seem like a god-tier yearner with his revolving door of hookups and proclivity to keep things casual. When Allie (Mika Abdalla) comes into the picture, man, does that change. Dean doesn’t realize the extent of his yearn at first, but that makes how down bad Dean is for Allie from the get-go even better. It isn’t just lust, as he comes to realize, and when he does, the degree of his yearn amplifies even more.
That’s largely thanks to Allie, who pushes him away despite his relentless advances. He can’t be with her because of her. Dean’s yearning hits its peak in the finale, when he finally does realize he wants Allie for real. Now that Dean’s confessed his feelings and the Allie-Hunter (Charlie Evans) hookup is out in the open, we’re ready for Dean to bring the yearn times 10. As butthurt as he might be, we all know Dean can’t just turn his feelings off for Allie.
