ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - NOVEMBER 30: Head Football Coach Ryan Day of the Ohio State Buckeyes before a college football game against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on November 30, 2019 in Ann Arbor, MI. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
To strengthen his team’s assault Ryan Day has formally announced the addition of another terrifying football wizard.
When Ohio State’s starting quarterback for 2023, Kyle McCord, declared in early December that he intended to use the transfer portal, there was a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the quarterback position. We now have some clarity as former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard announced on Thursday that he would be transferring to the Buckeyes. However, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
On Thursday night, Will Howard shared the news on his social media accounts.
First, a brief history of Howard. He is a 2020 recruiting class three-star recruit who is from the suburbs of Philadelphia. He started nine games as a freshman at Kansas State before sitting behind transfer Adrian Martinez from Nebraska in 2021 and some of 2022. However, he had a huge breakthrough in 2023, leading Kansas State to an 8-4 record with 2643 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and another 351 yards and 9 touchdowns on the ground. However, Howard’s fate was already apparent as Avery Johnson, a highly-touted rookie, was expected to replace him the following season.
Although he is a passable quarterback, is he really any better than Kyle McCord, who Ohio State deliberately undervalued by lowering his NIL?
The Buckeyes finished 11-1 thanks to McCord’s 3,170 yards of passing, 24 touchdowns, and just 6 interceptions. Even though he was far from flawless, Ohio State supporters treated him as though he was simply ruining the offense by playing like Jeff Sims of Nebraska. Furthermore, Howard will need to pick up Ryan Day’s system quickly, while this would be his fourth year in it.
Regardless of your stance, there is a valid debate about which of the two quarterbacks is superior. However, is Will Howard the kind of player you would force to bench a quarterback with the eighth-best QBR in the nation? Although I don’t think this is the guy Ohio State fans had in mind when McCord left, they will tell you right now that it is.
Howard’s primary contribution to the offense will be as a running threat. With CJ Stroud and McCord, who committed to Syracuse, under center, we haven’t seen much of that aspect of the Ohio State offense in recent years.
There were those who believed that the quarterbacks Devin Brown and Lincoln Keinholz would be retained for the upcoming season instead of being replaced through the portal. But after the team’s 14-3 Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri last week, in which both of them struggled, it became imperative to find a transfer portal quarterback.
It is unclear if 2022 recruit Brown and 2023 recruit Keinholz will stay in Columbus when five-star quarterback Air Noland, a member of the Buckeyes’ 2024 recruiting class, is expected to visit campus soon.
Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day have big things ahead of them in 2019. The locals in Columbus are getting impatient after losing to Michigan three times in a row. Ryan Day might end up on the unemployed list if Ohio State’s high expectations are not met in another season. He is hoping Will Howard will be the one to keep him employed.
