Howard relishing underdog role
COVER PHOTO: OSU quarterback Will Howard boasts a big grin after his Buckeyes beat Tennessee, 42-17, at home in the first round of the college football playoff on Dec. 21. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
Will Howard likes to think of himself as the little guy.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound quarterback has always put it in his mind that he’s the one being underestimated when he hits the turf for Ohio State.
“Yeah, I think I try to find motivation in a lot of different things,” he said on Sunday. “I've always kind of looked at myself as somewhat of an underdog.”
On Friday, his 8th-seeded Buckeyes (12-2) will take on higher-seeded, No. 5 Texas (13-2) in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Tex.
However, somebody may have forgotten to tell the fifth-year senior that despite being the lower seed, his team is favored to beat the Longhorns in their home state.
Shhhhh, nobody say anything to mess up his mojo.
“I kind of like to take on that underdog mentality a little bit and that chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I think that does help myself and give myself a little edge, a little more extra motivation at times.”
It’s okay, young William is used to people doubting him.
Even though the gambling pundits are saying the safe money is with the Buckeyes by 6.5 points.
Why does chilly Will still feel like an underdog, though?
Maybe it’s because he’s going to be who he is regardless of what other people think and it puts him at a weird disadvantage.
“Sometimes, I'm unapologetically myself. And I don't know if that rubs some people the wrong way sometimes. But I'm me. And I'm going to try and have fun and keep things light at times but also be super intense.”
Or maybe it’s because, as he stated, “I wasn't super highly recruited” out of Downingtown (Penn.) West High School.
After completing his senior year in 2019, he ended up taking what he felt was the best FBS (Division 1-A) offer at the time, Kansas State, which is over 1,200 miles away in Manhattan, Kan. And when he got there, nobody expected him to get serious reps on the field, let alone make a contribution.
“I kind of got thrown in,” he said.
But there he was as a true freshman in 2020, playing in nine games, including the last seven as a starter. He’d go on to set a school record for touchdown passes by a freshman (8).
However, the next two seasons he would split time with guys like Skylar Thompson (2021) and Nebraska transfer Adrian Martinez (2022) as well as suffer an early season injury in 2021 that put him out for several games. Even with the injury notwithstanding, he only played in six games that year and it was all mop-up duty.
And then to add the proverbial insult to injury, it seemed like his career was going to be relegated to a backup role as they brought in Martinez the next year, who was anointed the starter in 2022.
But Martinez’s play wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire. It became apparent that Howard was the dude who should be running the show and the Covid-eligible sophomore began seeing more time in the second half of the season.
Then came the game that would put his name on a more national landscape: the 2022 Big 12 championship game.
The 9-3 Wildcats were a heavy underdog against an undefeated TCU team that had a college football playoff appearance on the line. The Horned Frogs had beaten KSU earlier in the season, 38-28.
But Howard would grind it out and lead his team to a stunning 31-28 OT victory and claim K. State’s first outright conference win since 2003. He completed 56 percent of his passes for 199 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and ran the ball for another score.
“I'm one competitive son of a gun, so I'm going to make sure that we're making every opportunity (and) we can to go out there and compete,” he said.
The next year, it was all him. And he wouldn’t disappoint.
Although, the team went 9-4 and his stats weren’t as gaudy as they are this year with the Buckeyes, but those losses weren’t because of putrid play. The defense just couldn’t make stops against the stiffer competition.
Even still, they never lost a game by double digits. And of those four losses, three were on the road including a three-point L to Texas in Austin, 33-30. He completed 63 percent for 327 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
He finished his final season in a K-State jersey completing 61 percent for 2,643 yards, 24 TD’s and 10 INT’s while being third on the team in rushing yards (351) and was second with nine rushing scores.
Now fast forward to 2024 and Howard has had unquestionably the greatest season of his collegiate career.
Not only has he outpaced the amount of passing yards (3,490) and passing TD’s (32) this season than last year but his completion percentage has been outrageous. His 72.6 percent is second in the Big Ten and fourth nationally. His 175.8 passer rating is good for third in the country. The passing TD’s put him fifth overall.
But it’s been his seven games completing at least 80 percent or better that’s been eye-dazzling incredible because no other QB in OSU history has accomplished the feat. Not J.T. Barrett. Not Cardale Jones. Not even Heisman finalists like Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud, nor the late, great Dwayne Haskins, who’s still the single-season school record holder in a number of categories.
OSU sophomore wide receiver Brandon Inniss said it’s that kind of poise that the team has rallied around because Howard rallied around them first.
“A guy coming from Kansas State, a transfer in year one, you wouldn't expect that guy to be a leader like how he is,” Inniss said. “He runs this whole team, and he knows that, and we'll go as far as he goes.”
Howard said he hasn’t needed manufactured motivation to get where he’s at this year.
“It … has to come from within, and it can't be making up a story to get you pumped up every single week. You, obviously, have to strive and want to be the best. It's just so happened that there's been some games this year that have been a little personal to me and that have hit home.”
Undoubtedly, he’s referencing the 13-10 loss at home against Michigan to end the regular season. And if that defeat at the hands of a woefully overmatched Wolverine team didn’t sting enough, maybe even a little more personal to him is that in his four years with the Wildcats, he was never part of a winning team over the Longhorns, including three starts in 2020, ‘21 and ‘23.
Now Howard has a chance to right the ship.
And not only a chance for himself, but for his teammates who lost in the very same stadium in the very same bowl game last season to a Mizzouri team that represented the very same conference of a team they’re about to face Friday night.
“I think they (teammates) have some not-so-fond memories there, so we want to flip the script on that.”
The game kicks off at 7:30 EST and will air on ESPN.