Former Kansas State Wildcat quarterback Will Howard announced his intentions to commit to the Ohio State Buckeyes for the 2024-25 season per his social media. Howard entered the portal on November 27th, 2023, and received plenty of interest from the likes of USC, Nebraska, Oregon, and others. Howard finished last season with the Wildcats with 2,643 yards passing, 351 yards rushing, and 32 total touchdowns.
What Does Will Howard Bring to the Table for the Buckeyes?
Will Howard will bring a dynamic, balanced offensive attack to the Buckeye offense. He has quick legs and a quick release but can struggle under pressure and has been known to make mistakes when faced with a hot pursuit. Howard threw 10 interceptions this year, most of them coming against teams with a strong pass rush. Something to watch for when going up against tough Big Ten defensive lines. If Howard can improve his decision-making under pressure, this is a great pickup for the Buckeyes. Howard showed he can excel even without an elite wide receiving corps this past year, with a 61.3% completion percentage and a passer rating of 75.1, which ranks 22nd among all FBS quarterbacks.
While former Ohio State QB Kyle McCord, at least on paper, was the better quarterback, McCord also benefitted from having arguably the best wide receiver corps in college football with Marvin Harrison, Jr., Emeka Egbuka, and Julian Fleming. With all three departing Ohio State this year, it will fall on Howard to champion the passing game, something we've seen he is up to the challenge for.
Will Howard will also bring experience to an Ohio State offense that will have a lot of youth next year. As stated earlier, the top three wide receivers are gone for the Buckeyes, incoming junior running back Treveyon Henderson will have the most experience aside from Will Howard for this offense. Howard has shown he can lead a team well, as shown by his 2022 season as well as this season, fighting through adversity and injury to lead the Wildcats to a 9-4 record. The Buckeyes snagged a solid quarterback in the portal who will be able to lead a young Buckeye offense to potentially big things, something that was a concern heading into the 2024-25 season with Devin Bush, just an incoming sophomore whose only game experience was cleanup duty and about a quarter and a half of the Cotton Bowl, being the starter. While it would not have been the end of the world, surely, for the Buckeyes, adding a player with the experience that Howard has may have been just the thing they needed. Overall, I like this pickup but will miss booing Howard as a Jayhawk. Not really sure what some Wildcat faithful see in Avery Johnson that impresses them over Howard, but c'est la vie. He certainly impressed me a few times and will bring some much-needed experience to this young Buckeye squad who will look to avenge their Cotton Bowl defeat and overall disappointing season.
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