Day: Howard won the job significantly
COVER PHOTO: Quarterback Will Howard teases one of his teammates during the first practice of this year's fall camp. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
It’s a new season for Ohio State but there was still the same question lingering over their heads much like it had this time last year: who will be the main guy taking snaps?
Head coach Ryan Day put the quandary to rest after the opening question posed to him during his press conference on Thursday afternoon was whether or not they officially had a starting quarterback.
“We do, Will Howard will start the first game against Akron. He is our starting quarterback.”
The announcement, though, didn’t seem like much of a shock. The former Kansas State Wildcat looked to be the heir apparent once he committed to the Buckeyes in early January after entering the transfer portal in December.
After hearing Day’s assessment of Howard’s transformation since the spring, it also doesn’t seem like much of a shock that he was ready to name Howard as their leading man after only their 12th practice.
“When you take the aggregate of all the numbers, Will graded out significantly ahead of the other guys,” said Day. “You could see him playing faster, his feet were moving and the ball was coming out with better pace. And then after the first week, you just started to see him take control and make good decisions.”
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said there was a lot of “data-driven information” that went into selecting Howard but ultimately it was all of the intangibles put together that made it an easy decision.
“It’s not just who has the strongest arm but the decision-making process has always been at the top of the list and then after that would be repetitive accuracy and then athleticism. Will has all three of those.”
Kelly also said one huge factor was Howard’s amount of experience.
“The one thing you know he has, is experience. He’s been in a huddle in a lot of games (and) he’s been in a huddle in big games so this isn’t new to him.”
Stacking Howard’s experience against third-year sophomore Devin Brown - and really all of the other four scholarship QB’s combined - seems like anointing him as the starter is a no-brainer. The fifth-year senior comes in with 34 games tucked under his belt, including 27 as a starter. He garnered second-team, All-Big 12 honors last year at Kansas State and helped the Wildcats take down TCU two years ago in the Big 12 championship game. TCU beat Michigan that year in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal and played Georgia for the national championship.
Brown’s on-field experience has been much more limited, appearing in only eight games with one start, which came in their season-ender last year versus Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. And Brown’s time has also been hampered by injuries. He suffered a broken hand during last year's spring practices and was unable to play in the spring game. Then he incurred two more injuries last fall with one occurring on a goal line play against Penn State and another in the Cotton Bowl when he went down with a game-ending ankle injury early in the second quarter. That led to redshirt freshman Lincoln Kienholz's one and only game-playing experience.
The other two scholarship QB’s are true freshmen Julian Sayin and Prentiss “Air” Noland, both of whom have yet to throw a pass in an official collegiate game.
Day said they need the kind of experience Howard has when it will come to facing potentially stout defenses this season and said it helps going up against a stacked defense every day in practice, a defense that finished No. 3 overall last year - including No. 1 in passing yards allowed - and returns virtually everyone.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said Howard’s accuracy has improved since the spring and that’s what has stood out to him.
“He’s making all the throws. He stands in the pocket, he’s got great vision (and) arm strength,” said Knowles. “We’ve got great receivers and he’s putting the ball in places where only the receiver can catch it. So, to me, it’s not just the arm strength but he’s making the pin-point passes, too.”
However, that wasn’t necessarily the case during spring ball. The race to be the starter appeared to be neck-and-neck after camp concluded. Brown was putting more zip on the ball and had more control and accuracy.
Howard’s downfield tosses, especially on the run, sailed several yards ahead of receivers who had some difficulty catching up to make the catch.
Day said there were some growing pains for Howard during the spring.
“I think coming off the spring, everything was very new, it was a significant change in terms of scheme and what we ask the quarterback to do,” said Day. “Once he kind of went through the offseason and changed his body, (he) came in with a better knowledge about what was going on.”
Howard said last week that he had shed some 15 pounds in the past four months. That dedication to stick to a plan put in place for him impressed Day and Kelly as well as Howard brushing up on the Buckeyes’ playbook. In only two short weeks, Day said Howard has really taken command of the offense and they’re excited about him as the starter.
“You feel him in the huddle, you feel his experience and he did a really good job of changing his body in the offseason so he’s become both a threat with his legs and his arm,” said Day. “I think the guys are excited, (too). When he gets in the huddle, not to say they’re not excited when the other quarterbacks are in there, but they do feel Will.”
However, does this mean Brown is completely out? Or any of the other guys for that matter?
Kelly stopped short of saying who he felt was the primary backup but touched on the 2014 season when a third-string QB had to step in and ultimately lead the Buckeyes to winning the national championship.
“You just mention the name ‘Cardale Jones’. They won a national championship and he started the season off at number three. There’s a million stories about that and I think our players are really conscious of that,” said Kelly.
Day said Brown is the No. 2 but the other three are also in the mix for the backup role and said Saturday’s scrimmage should give them a better idea of where the others are at.
“These guys are going to continue to work, they’re going to compete and try to get as many reps as they can. We are currently still rolling three groups so there’s a lot of reps to go around,” said Day.
Howard was not available for comment nor made a statement on any of his social media.
