Entering the spring, Ryan Day has made it clear the starting quarterback job is up for grabs.
Will Howard knew he wouldn’t be guaranteed the job when he transferred to Ohio State from Kansas State this winter, despite only having one year of eligibility remaining. He’ll have to beat out incumbents Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz, with the former taking first-team reps ahead of Howard for the Buckeyes in 11-on-11 drills during the first practice of spring football Tuesday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Still, Howard is the heavy favorite to line up under center for Ohio State in Week 1 against Akron and beyond. He’s carried himself as such in his brief time in Columbus since arriving on campus in January.
“I got one more year,” Howard told reporters on Monday. “I didn’t come here to be nervous or timid or anything like that. I’m ready to go. … It might not all be perfect, and I might make a few mistakes, but that’s how I’m gonna learn. Nothing is too big for me. Nothing is too big for this team. … It’s gonna be a lot of learning across the board, but I am excited for that. I want to embrace that. That’s the cool part about this.”
Howard boasts by far the most collegiate experience of any of OSU’s five scholarship quarterbacks, appearing in 34 games during his four years at Kansas State, throwing for 5,786 yards and 48 career touchdowns in addition to running for 921 yards and 19 touchdowns. His addition was a key part of a major offseason for Ohio State that saw the Buckeyes emerge as legit national title contenders for 2024 with several high-profile transfer additions, also including Caleb Downs and Quinshon Judkins. The stakes of the upcoming year aren’t lost on Howard.
“We know how much is on the line,” Howard said. “We know how much we have already given to this season and invested in this team. I think we had a really, really good winter. The way that guys were bought in, the leadership we have on this team, the number of guys that decided to come back and come to this program – it’s exciting. We know what’s on the line. We’re chasing that one percent every single day. At the end of the day, we know our goal is to win and to win all of them.”
Howard’s Ohio State tenure got off to an interesting start, as he’s already had two offensive coordinators in two months. Bill O’Brien spent three weeks as the Buckeyes’ offensive play caller before bolting for Boston College, leading to Ryan Day hiring his longtime mentor Chip Kelly away from UCLA.
“It was definitely the quickest turnaround I’ve had in terms of offensive coordinators,” Howard said with a laugh. “… I think the move we made getting coach Kelly as quick as we did shows you how invested coach Day is in this year. Because that’s a heck of a hire. He’s a really good dude to learn from.”
The day Kelly was hired, the former UCLA, NFL and Oregon head coach went out of his way to call Howard to check in. The 6-foot-4, 237-pound Howard said he grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan, so it was a bit surreal for him when he learned Kelly would be his offensive coordinator. He warmed up to the move even further after delving into film of Kelly’s past offenses.
“His schemes are really quarterback-friendly,” Howard said. “The things that he does are easy, there’s not a lot of manipulation, it’s like ‘How can we get as many yards as possible without any strain.’
“... He does a lot of good stuff in the RPO world. I think a lot of the things he’s teaching us that we don’t have to work harder; we just need to work smarter. (We need to get) the ball to the guys on the outside that we have and let them go make plays in space. That’s gonna be big for us this year. He’s putting me in the best position possible to be a point guard out there.”
Kelly has been equally stirred with Howard in his brief Columbus tenure, particularly by his mental makeup.
“Really impressed,” Kelly said. “You don’t have to talk to Will for more than five minutes to know where he’s coming from. He’s really focused, he knows he has a short window left in his college career and wants to capitalize on what that is. There’s a maturity to Will. Since the transfer portal opened, some of the best players I’ve had the opportunity to coach were transfers. Sometimes when you’re a true freshman and you’re five years out, you think ‘I’ve got a ton of time.’ But when you’re a transfer you’ve got nine months. Will has exuded that since he’s been here. The other thing that has stood out in the short time he’s been here is how quickly he’s fit in with the rest of the team and how much the other players respect him.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s practice, Howard told reporters he felt he had a good grasp of Ohio State’s offense, offensive coaching change and all, and that he was excited to finally be able to take practice reps of what he saw on film.
Howard’s 2023 season was the best of his career, as he completed 61.4% of his passes for 2,643 yards and 24 touchdowns against 10 interceptions while adding 351 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. His collegiate swan song season might be even better. Considering he’ll be throwing to the likes of Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss, Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith, he’ll be surrounded by more talent offensively than he ever was at Kansas State.
“We won games at Kansas State because of the guys we had and the ‘togetherness’ we had,” Howard said. “But we have that here, and we also have the talent. I’ve never been a part of something like this, and I am excited to see where this leads.”
Howard has been doing his best to bond with his new teammates, even taking a few of them to a rodeo a couple of weeks ago. He’s also made an effort to connect with his fellow quarterbacks, some defensive players and of course, his wide receivers.
“He’s a funny dude, very likable guy,” Egbuka said Monday. “We kind of hit it off. We’ve thrown together a couple times on the weekend when it’s not team-organized stuff. I’m really excited to see what he can do this spring. I feel like he’s a phenomenal talent, really smart quarterback. He’s a veteran, so I’m hoping he can bring some experience.”
En route to potentially winning the starting job for the Buckeyes, Howard hopes to lead by example and earn the trust of his teammates.
“You don’t want to come in here yelling at people,” Howard said. “They’re not gonna respect you. They’re not gonna listen to you. At least not until you have that baseline of a relationship. If they know that they can respect me and trust me to do my job, then I can go out there and bring them along when something is not right.”
