When you have a .50-caliber machine gun at your disposal against your opponent’s peashooter, there’s no need to be the world’s greatest marksman. Just use the weapons at your disposal to their natural advantage.
That’s what it feels like with Will Howard transferring from Kansas State to Ohio State and getting surrounded by Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss at wide receiver with TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins at running back. And the quarterback recognizes that fact.
“The one thing I would say is that I don't feel like I have to be a hero here,” Howard said on Tuesday. “And I feel like I have the guys around me to where I just need to facilitate and just get them the ball and make good decisions. And at the end of the day, I don't have to go out there and do anything superhuman, you know. I just have to be myself and trust the guys around me.”
Whether running the ball, improving the accuracy and power behind his throws or leading the offense in general, Howard is making strides toward both winning the starting job in Columbus and being the type of quarterback who can guide this Buckeye team to the highest heights in college football.
"I thought there was more zip on the ball, and I thought there was more accuracy today," Ryan Day said after Ohio State’s first fall camp practice. "For day one, I did notice that. Again, day one, what are you going to do on day one? But I thought the ball came out with more pace. I thought he had more discernment, and I thought there were some accurate throws out there."
“Zip” is also the term offensive coordinator Chip Kelly used to describe the increased oomph behind Howard’s passes from springtime to now. While many might think of it as a mechanical improvement, Kelly said arm strength often comes with knowledge of an offensive scheme as well.
“Sometimes zip is, do you know what you're doing? When you have the confidence to get back there, and I know the progression right away, and I can rip it right now,” Kelly said. “Sometimes you're a little bit tentative, so the ball may not come off your hand the right way. But I do, I've seen improvement from Will from where we were in the spring to where we are now.”
Kelly added that a quarterback’s accuracy is also something that can improve with knowledge of the offense, and he’s seen growth in that area as well from Howard.
For Howard’s part, he admitted to struggling with the scheme early after his move from Manhattan, Kansas. But through intensive film-room study and dedication, he’s picked things up quickly, and with it dropped some weight from 250 down to between 230 and 235 pounds.
“I feel like in the spring I was – at the beginning at least – drinking from a fire hose a little bit,” Howard said. “Especially just with the way that the offense was installed. But I think that was good for me. Kind of learning how to go through a spring or through a couple of practices without really having any prior experience with an offense.”
He’s taken that learning and built upon it in fall camp.
“Coming into fall camp, it's been completely different,” Howard said. “The amount of banked reps, and that's the thing is you can't replicate actually doing it. The only way to do it is to do it. To go out there, in OTAs or in fall camp practices, and getting reps. And having these reps from the spring banked and all these things that I've learned, it's helped me a lot this fall camp to just go out there and play more rather than think about things.”
Howard can feel his weight difference on the ground as well, where Kelly said he’s been clocked with a sprint speed of over 22 miles per hour. The quarterback run game is something both Day and Kelly have been eager to add to the offense all offseason, and in addition to his strides made throwing the ball, Howard broke off what could have been an 80-yard touchdown run in practice on Saturday before the play was blown dead.
“When you have somebody that can be a dual threat, that's a really tough thing to defend sometimes because, all right, we're going to play (cover) two man and lock up these receivers and double their two best receivers and go,” Kelly said. “Well, if they've all turned their back to the quarterback and the four-man rush doesn't get home and the quarterback now takes off, there's nobody left. I think obviously we know how fast Will is, so it's not like if he runs it's a 6-yard gain. If he takes off, it could be a 60-yard gain.”
"We know how fast Will is, so it's not like if he runs it's a 6-yard gain. If he takes off, it could be a 60-yard gain."– Chip Kelly on Will Howard's rushing ability
It’s not necessarily the designed runs that Kelly speaks of. In critical moments on passing plays, Howard needs to have the ability to tuck the ball and move the chains with his feet when needed.
“That's a big part of my game and it's going to need to be a part of our game as an offense,” Howard said. “Whether that's in the read game, in the scramble game, whatever it may be. I just want these guys on my team to know that I'm willing to run the ball and go get that extra yard when I need to.
“That's what it really comes down to is, are we going to run some quarterback run plays? Sure. But at the end of the game when it's third-and-5 and everyone's covered down the field, am I going to be able to tuck the ball down and go get 6 yards and run someone over?”
He’s working on his command in the huddle, too.
“How can we be better as a team and how can I facilitate that being the quarterback,” Howard said. “How can I encourage somebody before we go out there to remind them, if it's a running back, whatever protection (we’re in), you got these guys. Doing things like that is something I want to continue to grow in for my team.”
Ohio State’s quarterback competition isn’t decided yet, though Howard was seen eating the vast majority of first-team reps in 11-on-11s during the team’s practice open to the media on Sunday.
“As I tell the players, don't count your reps, make your reps count,” Kelly said. “And I think they're doing a good job, all of them. We're still kind of going through that. I would say probably toward the end of this week, we'll start to kind of hone in on it.”
If he stakes his claim to that and keeps making strides, it should be a very successful season of facilitating for Howard and Ohio State's offense.
