“Obviously, we know how fast Will is. So it’s not like if he runs, it’s a six-yard gain. If he takes off, it could be a 60-yard gain.” – Chip Kelly
Will Howard has pocket presence and looks better throwing the football in preseason camp than he did in spring practice. But talk of tucking the ball and running more than any quarterback since Justin Fields, ought to make some old-school fans happy.
Columbus, OH – Presumptive starting quarterback Will Howard sat down to face the Ohio State media horde after practice Tuesday morning in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Nothing new about players doing that on the anointed day for their position group during preseason camp.
But this was clearly a different experience for Howard than his days at Kansas State.
After offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and the four other quarterbacks had taken their turns, Howard sat down at the middle of the three tables set up across the field.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Will Howard center stage, the spotlight to himself, a coincidence? Hardly.
As Howard sat down in front of the microphone, he greeted the media.
“Hey guys. What’s up?”
What’s up is that Will Howard’s public presence matches the ease of his pocket presence.
What’s up is that he transferred to Ohio State to be the starting quarterback and to prepare himself to be a much higher pick in the NFL draft than he ever could have been at Kansas State. And he will without a doubt be an upgrade from Kyle McCord.
If Howard is named Ohio State’s starting quarterback – and that’s barely an itty-bitty if – he will face the media every week. And Howard looked the part, acted the part and seemed to enjoy the part of holding court like starting quarterbacks do for teams expected to play for a national championship.
Howard – who could be named starter as soon as next week – looked around at the 50 or so people, smiled and said hi to tight end Jelani Thurman who sat down on the turf to listen to what Howard would say. As the questions came at him, he calmly looked from right to left as if he were standing in the pocket and scanning the field for an open receiver.
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What Howard didn’t do was take off and run or look like he wanted to. But running – for the fans who want to see more of that – is coming. Of all the topics for discussion, nothing Howard said harmonized with the echoes of the past in a building named after Woody Hayes quite like the talk of a quarterback running.
“That’s a big part of my game and it’s going to need to be a part of our game as an offense,” Howard said. “Whether that’s in the read game, in the scramble game, I just want these guys on my team to know that I’m willing to run the ball and go get that extra yard when I need to.”
Kelly, the former head coach at Oregon, with the Philadelphia Eagles and most recently UCLA, is known for engineering high-level running attacks. He won’t be calling 25 QB power plays, but he likes how Howard will add to the running game.
“When you have somebody that can be a dual threat, that’s a really tough thing to defend sometimes,” Kelly said. “Obviously, we know how fast Will is. So it’s not like if he runs, it’s a six-yard gain. If he takes off, it could be a 60-yard gain.”
During Saturday’s practice Howard broke a long run.
Howard transferred to Ohio State to be the starting quarterback and to prepare himself to be a much higher pick in the NFL draft than he ever could have been at Kansas State.
“I felt fast,” he said. “We made a little QB call on that play. It’s nice to compete with those guys and trying to out run some some DBs that are really, really fast. It was a good play.”
But Howard wasn’t always a runner.
In high school he was tall and skinny and mostly stayed in the pocket. He got to college and put on weight and got stronger. Howard made similar plays to his Saturday run several times at Kansas State, including a touchdown on the third play of his first start.
“I surprised myself a little bit,” Howard said. “I had some good runs in camp and people knew I was a good athlete, but I was like, ‘Man, did I really just do that.’ From then on, it just kind of became a part of my game.”
However, when Howard arrived at Ohio State in January, he was carrying too much weight at 249 pounds (portal weight, he called it). The OSU staff put him on a nutritional plan, a workout plan and he started cooking for himself. Now he weighs in the 233-235 range.
“I feel a little more grown up,” he said. “It feels good to eat well and to treat your body right.”
Kelly sees a difference since spring practice in the fastest of the team’s five quarterbacks.
“You can see his ability to not only run faster, but I think he’s got a lot more stamina,” Kelly said. “He can last longer during the course of a training session.”
Passing, of course, will be the measure of Howard. In the spring, he was learning the Cliff Notes version of the offense and not looking his best. Now, Kelly and Howard agree, his velocity and accuracy are noticeably improved.
“Sometimes zip is do you know what you’re doing?” Kelly said. “Sometimes you’re a little bit tentative, so the ball may not come off your hand the right way.”
In almost nine months, Howard said he has learned far more than plays, timing with his receivers and how to cook. He’s being coached by Ryan Day and Kelly, two of the top offensive minds in college football.
“I’m getting a deeper level of coaching than I ever had before,” Howard said. “I have a deeper understanding of the offense and what the defense is doing.”
Howard also knows the expectations for the program, this season and for the position he plays. He says everything about football is heightened at Ohio State, and he feels the eyes watching his every move. But that’s OK because of the prodigious talent around him.
“I don’t feel like I have to be a hero here,” he said. “I feel like I have the guys around me to where I just need to facilitate and just get them the ball and make good decisions. I don’t have to go out there and do anything super-human. I just have to be myself and trust the guys around me.”
And on those rare occasions when all his receivers are covered, Howard will know what to do.
“Tuck the ball down and go get six yards and run someone over,” he said. “I want those guys to know I’m going to go get that extra yard.”
That’s what’s up.
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