Ohio State’s Will Howard closes in on title after messy Kansas State exit

On January 21, 2025By Littum

Editor’s note: Follow Ohio State vs. Notre Dame live updates, scores and highlights from the national championship game.

ATLANTA – Will Howard talked about this strange season, one that began long before he took his first snap as Ohio State quarterback and long after a loss to Michigan brought the program to its collective knees.

There are the stories, he says, nobody knows. Stories that make up Ohio State’s confusing run to the College Football Playoff national championship game can only be told if the Buckeyes win.

Or one that can be told for the first time right now.

It was November 2023 when Howard sat down with Kansas State coach Chris Klieman and a difficult conversation ended with two options: Go to the NFL, where he earned an invitation to the Senior Bowl to work out for NFL scouts, or use his final. season for eligibility elsewhere.

While Kansas State didn’t run off Howard, it certainly did. There was too much to like about rising quarterback Avery Johnson, and there was little doubt where the conversation was headed.

Howard had yet to make an NFL decision, but knew that if he were to return to college football, he could play at an elite level.

“We both knew that was the way it was going to be,” Howard told USA TODAY Sports. “No bad intentions on either side.”

But you better believe there is motivation.

More than anything, this is a story about the ever-changing state of college football. K-State passed on Johnson because, with free player movement and NIL collectives tossing around high-dollar compensation deals, it was either commit to him or lose him.

Howard had one year of eligibility; Johnson had three. These decisions are made all over college football now, including at the elite levels of the game.

There’s a reason Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, despite his NFL draft stock dropping since the start of the season, left early for the NFL. Uber talented young backup Arch Manning needed to play.

And while Howard says he talks to both Klieman and Johnson regularly and there’s “no love lost” between them, this story begins with a decision. K-State chose Johnson over Howard.

Make no mistake, Johnson has shown flashes of remarkable talent and could eventually develop into one of the game’s best players. But Howard had one thing to prove when he spoke with Ohio State coach Ryan Day and no one else: He could lead a team to a national championship.

It just so happened that Day, who had moved on from quarterback Kyle McCord, was in the process of changing his offense with his good friend and former UCLA coach Chip Kelly. An all-in moment for Day at Ohio State.

With an all-in transfer quarterback with something to prove.

“I kind of realized when I was a sophomore in high school that this football thing could be something I could do,” Howard said. “Ever since then, you’ve had people tell you you can’t do this or be this. If you’re any kind of competitor, you want to prove them wrong.”

Then this season came and it was like some cruel joke was playing when it mattered most. There were struggles and a failure to stop the clock in a late loss at Oregon, and two key interceptions in the loss to Michigan.

That loss, while not ending Ohio State’s season, may have been the best thing to happen to the most talented team in college football — the program that spent nearly $20 million building a championship-or-bust roster.

“It brought us together, tighter,” Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “There’s just too much talent on this team to play the way we played.”

They have an average of 37 points per game in three CFP games, including a 28-14 win over Texas, which knocked the big, bad SEC out of the CFP final for the second straight season.

The quarterback, who completed 57 percent of his passes against Michigan and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. attempts, completing 74 percent of his passes in three playoff games and more than doubling his average yards per carry. attempts (10.8) – against three top 15 defenses.

The ball travels down the field, putting defenses in constant conflict. Most have tried rolling coverages and double-star Jeremiah Smith while leaving Carnell Tate and Egbuka in single coverage.

It hasn’t worked.

Ohio State has 20 passing plays of 15-plus yards in the playoffs, including a whopping seven of 30 yards or more. An offense that spent three months trying to prove it was more physical than any it played finally realized what made it unique under Day over the previous seven seasons.

No one in college football understands the pass game like Day, whose concepts and play-calling led to the most prolific offense in college football over the past decade — as both offensive coordinator and head coach at Ohio State.

Before last season, Day’s quarterbacks averaged 41 touchdown passes per season. It took 12 games into this season, but Day realized that what made this team different from others he had at Ohio State, which couldn’t win the national title, was the very thing that made it so dangerous in the first place.

Sometimes it’s the decision right in front of your face that makes the most sense. You just have to embrace it.

“We put the ball in Will’s hands and good things happened,” Day said.

Earlier this week, Howard and Johnson texted back and forth as they usually do. Howard’s brother, Ryan, is a freshman offensive lineman at K-State, and Will remains deeply connected to his first college home.

How could he not? He won a Big 12 championship at K-State and invested four years in Klieman’s build. He was Klieman’s first quarterback recruit of a full recruiting cycle, the player to build and grow around.

And then he wasn’t.

It’s really no one’s fault and everyone is better for it. But you better believe there is motivation.

“I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t an easy conversation (with Klieman),” Howard said. “I love Kansas State and my boys there. Love everything about it. But it didn’t take long for me to realize how unique Ohio State is and what we could be this season.”

They are a game away now.

Then perhaps any story can be told.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for the USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.