Ohio State’s QB1: How Will Howard ‘put in the work’ needed to earn Ryan Day’s trust

Shortly after Ohio State completed its spring game in mid-April, the Buckeyes’ coaching staff created an offseason roadmap of sorts for transfer quarterback Will Howard, a newcomer from Kansas State. Head coach Ryan Day wanted to see a deeper understanding and greater command of the system. New offensive coordinator Chip Kelly stressed to Howard the importance of shoring up his mechanics. Director of sport performance Mickey Marotti challenged Howard, who was listed at 6-foot-4 and 242 pounds last season, to reshape his body during the team’s strength and conditioning sessions over the summer.

An uneven performance during the spring left the door ajar for Howard’s fellow quarterbacks in a five-man race, with the primary challenge provided by rising junior Devin Brown, the backup to starter Kyle McCord in 2023. But if Howard could make noticeable strides in the aforementioned areas, the coaches explained, he would be well-positioned for the resumption of Ohio State’s quarterback competition in fall camp, a four-week sprint toward the season opener against Akron on Aug. 31.

“I think coming off the spring,” Day said, “everything was very new. It was a significant change in terms of scheme and what we ask the quarterback to do.”

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For as exhaustive as such a to-do list might have seemed in April, Howard proceeded to navigate his first and only offseason in Columbus with aplomb. He toned and leaned his body to a more sculpted 235 pounds. He arrived at fall camp with improved velocity on his passes. He made quicker decisions in the pocket to reflect his growing comfortability in the scheme. And he began commanding the huddle with exactly the type of veteran presence Ohio State needed in the buildup to one of its most anticipated seasons in years.

All told, Howard’s improvements were swift enough and vast enough for Day to call an end to the competition at the halfway point of training camp — nearly a month earlier than last year’s race between McCord and Brown was finally decided. Day told reporters in a news conference on Thursday afternoon that Howard had graded out “significantly ahead” of the other quarterbacks when combining his performances from the spring with the first two weeks of preseason, a grand total of approximately 28 practices. It was enough for Howard to officially be named the Buckeyes’ starter over Brown. 

“I feel like, quite honestly, Will has taken control of the team in the last four or five days,” Day said. “I don’t think anybody will be surprised in that locker room.”

For many fans and observers of Ohio State, this was the expected outcome from the moment Howard announced his decision to join the program in early January, bypassing a chance to enter the NFL Draft. Howard, who will turn 23 in December, started 28 games across four seasons at Kansas State, including 12 starts during the 2023 campaign alone. He threw for 5,786 yards during his time with the Wildcats and rushed for 921 more while producing 67 total touchdowns, 19 of which came on the ground. He was a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the coaches last season after leading Kansas State to a 9-4 record and a 6-3 mark in conference play.

Production aside, it’s Howard’s seismic edge in experience that proved too difficult for Ohio State’s other quarterbacks to overcome. Howard logged at least 400 snaps in three different seasons at Kansas State and left the Wildcats having topped 1,800 for his career. The other four scholarship quarterbacks on the Buckeyes’ roster will enter 2024 having played 164 snaps combined: Brown (104), Lincoln Kienholz (60), Julian Sayin (0) and Air Noland (0). Inexperienced quarterback play was among the factors that derailed Day’s squad last season, with McCord unable to match the lofty standard of predecessors C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields.

Put simply, Howard is a far more proven commodity. 

“Where he is now is pretty impressive,” Kelly said on Thursday afternoon. “And you know the one thing he has is experience: He’s been in the huddle. He’s been in a huddle in a lot of games and a lot of big games. So this isn’t new to him. Columbus is new to him, but playing college football isn’t new to him. I think that experience, you know, really started to shine through here in camp, and I’m excited to see where he goes with it.”

What that shining through has looked like, according to Day and Kelly, is the marriage of physical tools and maturity they envisioned when Howard joined the Buckeyes over the winter — both of which are now being accentuated by a roster of skill players far more talented than what was present at Kansas State. Improved footwork and base have allowed Howard to throw with more “zip” than he did in the spring. An obsession with watching film and vocalizing playcalls in the Ohio State quarterback room deepened Howard’s understanding of the offense. A commitment to changing his body enabled Howard to be clocked at 22 miles per hour during a summer workout, faster than all of his competitors at the position.  

The roadmap from April has been realized. And Howard is ahead of schedule. 

“A big part of it is the work ethic he has put in,” Day said. “He comes in early, he puts work in, he studies the film, he understands what the schemes are, he understands the structure of the route combinations, and he’s done a good job in the run game. 

“When you’re in this offense, you’re making a decision every single play at quarterback. There’s very few times when you just hand the ball off and take a deep breath. We try to do that every now and again, but it’s not a lot. And he can handle it, and he’s done a good job of making sure that he’s prepared for the preseason, and it’s showing.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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