Will Howard’s one-and-done season at Ohio State serving as perfect culmination to underdog journey

By the end of the 2023 season, one thing was obvious in the Kansas State locker room: Will Howard was not the future at quarterback. 

Avery Johnson had just relieved Howard in the second half of an October 2023 game against Texas Tech where the five-star freshman had incredibly rushed for five touchdowns. 

In that moment, Howard — the three-star prospect who came from Downington, Pennsylvania, to make his mark in central Kansas — had been supplanted. Not right away, but it was unfortunate and uncomfortable as the season wound down. The perception was that Howard was losing his job. 

“I feel like the whole locker room knew what was going on with Will at that time,” said Kobe Savage, former K-State teammate and now an Oregon cornerback. 

Howard has remaining ties to Kansas State. His brother, Ryan Howard, is an offensive lineman for the Wildcats. He has a close friend, tight end Will Swanson, who remains on the team. 

Mostly, Howard left behind no hard feelings. That goes for his former coach, who may not like the current climate but gets it. 

“It was the right time for him to take the leap of faith,” K-State coach Chris Klieman of Howard’s departure. “To the NFL or see what was out there. I know it took a while, but he found the right fit with Chip [Kelly] and Ryan [Day] for sure.”

For the first time since at least 1998, the beginning of the BCS era, two transfer quarterbacks are meeting in the national championship game. Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard came from Duke last offseason.

In both cases, it was hard for each to extricate themselves from their former school. In both cases, they have become stars at national programs. 

“You’ve just got to go through it to understand what it’s like to play quarterback at a blue blood school,” Leonard said.

It can be argued that Howard has been one of the most significant portal acquisitions of the NIL era. After going 12-5 as a starter for the Wildcats in 2022 and 2023, Howard has assembled one of the best seasons in Ohio State history. 

He could do something C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields never did — which is win it all. That also would make Howard the first such starting quarterback to complete a national championship season for Ohio State since Craig Krenzel in 2002. Remember, in 2014, third-stringer Cardale Jones went on a heater late in the season and led the Buckeyes to the title. 

Howard is trying to add an explanation point to his one-and-done season in Columbus, Ohio. 

“He’s a tough kid,” former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. “He’s a team kid, and that’s what Ryan [Day] was looking for. He was the right fit because Ryan looked at his roster and said, ‘If I can bring a great, tough quarterback and surround him with a lot of guys, that’s the formula.'”

Easier said than done. While Howard was an effective addition, he wasn’t perceived as the best in the portal. Ohio State added the No. 1 2024 transfer prospect according to 247Sports — Julian Sayin from Alabama. But that was for the future.

Howard was also ranked behind Aidan Chiles (Michigan State), Dante Moore (Oregon), Cam Ward (Miami), Brock Vandagriff (Kentucky) and Maalik Murphy (Duke, since transferring again to Oregon State). 

Klieman won’t get into the actual machinations of how Howard left. 

“I would rather keep that private,” Klieman said. “I don’t want to do that to Will. I sure as heck don’t want to do it to Avery.”

Suffice to say, Johnson was/is definitely the future at K-State. The prospect from Maize, Kansas, got offers from Florida State, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Oregon, Notre Dame and Auburn coming out of high school.

Howard got offers from Temple and Bowling Green. 

Johnson was can’t-miss. After an uneven first season as a starter, that label has yet to be fulfilled. But as Howard has proved, time is an ally. He has peaked as a fifth-year senior. 

It just took a while. 

“Nobody really wants to really give me any credit, but I love that,” Howard said this week. “Keep it coming.” 

Howard was lured to K-State, in part, because of Klieman’s excellence at North Dakota State. From 2014-18 Klieman won four FCS national championships in five years with the Bison.

During that time, he produced quite the NFL quarterback pipeline. Carson Wentz was the No. 2 overall pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2016 NFL Draft. Easton Stick is in his sixth year as a backup with the Chargers. Trey Lance was the third overall pick in the 2021 draft. 

“His favorite college player growing up was Carson Wentz,” Klieman said of Howard. “Will contacted us because we had him at NDSU and he loved Carson and the Eagles.” 

“Will is going to have a long career. He might be like Easton Stick, backup … but he’s getting a pretty nice paycheck. Will is going to be so good in a quarterback room, being able to game plan and process.” 

Projected as a third- to sixth-round pick after last season, Howard stayed in college and became, to date, the fourth-most accurate thrower in the country. Only Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord (Syracuse), Cade Klubnik (Clemson), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) and Ward (Miami) have thrown more touchdown passes this season. 

Howard has been the best quarterback in the playoff, possibly the College Football Playoff MVP (if there was such an award). He needs 71 yards to throw for 1,000 while completing 74% of his passes. 

At the granular level, he was fantastic against Texas in the Cotton Bowl semifinal. The Longhorns did an excellent job of taking away superstar wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Howard excelled because he didn’t force things. Smith was targeted only three times and had one catch. That was OK.

Howard took advantage of the rest of the most talented receiver room in the country which includes Carnell Tate, Emeka Egbuka and tight end Gee Scott. 

“I think Will was hoping to go to the NFL last year,” Klieman said. “I know he talked to a ton of schools. I don’t know when Ohio State finally came aboard. Will was one of the last in the cycle to commit and sign … I’ll tell you what, he helped himself a ton.”

So has Leonard coming out of Fairhope, Alabama, never taking — his words — “an official or unofficial visits to any school.” The only reason Duke offered Leonard is because his throwing coach, David Morris, played quarterback for Ole Miss. 

Duke coach David Cutcliffe had been Morris’ coach with the Rebels. 

“Cut was doing me a favor offering me,” Leonard said.

Cutcliffe recruited Leonard to Duke but stepped down after the 2021 season. While Leonard prospered under Mike Elko, winning 17 games in two seasons, there was something better calling at Notre Dame. 

“I didn’t like being in the transfer portal,” Leonard said. “It was a really weird feeling because I think of myself as a loyal person. Then there I am in the transfer portal leaving my best friends at Duke.”

What they don’t tell you during the breathless recruiting process: They’re always trying to recruit over you. 

Johnson replaced Howard. Before that at K-State, Howard had replaced Skylar Thompson (now a backup with the Steelers) and Adrian Martinez (backup with the Jets) at different points. 

There was a bit of a bookend reminder of Howard’s career arc last week. Starting the last game of the 2020 regular season, Howard threw two interceptions in a loss to Texas. That marked his fifth straight game with a pick. In that game, Longhorns linebacker David Gbenda had one of those interceptions. Forty-nine months later in Friday’s Cotton Bowl, Gbenda got his second career interception — against Howard. 

Yes, it took a while.