COLUMN | Will Howard, the consummate winner

COLUMN | Will Howard, the consummate winner

 

 

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COLUMN | Will Howard, the consummate winner

 

Will Howard is a winner. In life and on the football field, all the former Wildcat and recently crowned national champion has done is win. It started in Manhattan, and it didn’t change when he moved to Columbus, Ohio. Whatever his next spot is, odds are he’ll win there, too. It’s just what he does.

 

While at K-State, he overcame quite a bit and left Manhattan as the career leader in passing touchdowns and a Big 12 Champion.

 

He was forced into action as a true freshman after Skylar Thompson got hurt. The coaches brought in Adrian Martinez Howard’s junior year, and he eventually took the job while Martinez was out with injury and took the team to the Big 12 championship and won it.

 

He then weathered a tricky situation in 2023, sharing time with true freshman Avery Johnson, not letting his frustration and disappointment of losing snaps his senior season get in the way of being a leader and a role model helping Johnson adjust to the job that would soon be his.

 

He then absconded to Ohio State, playing amongst the former five-star recruits and future first-round draft picks and managed to do what many other quarterbacks perceived to be more talented on teams stacked with high-level athletes didn’t do: win a national title.

 

Howard’s taken a lot of guff over the years, both in Manhattan and in Columbus, but he never let it break him.

 

Coming into the playoffs, the national narrative surrounding Howard was not incredibly positive. The Buckeyes missed out on making the Big Ten championship and slinked into the playoff after losing to Oregon and Michigan.

 

The perception around the Buckeyes was clear, if Ohio State were to make a run and win a national title, it would be despite Howard, not because of him.

 

If you search the internet, there are many examples of this mindset, but one of my favorites came from Fox Sports analyst and former Texas Longhorn Emmanuel Acho.

 

“Ohio State has the worst quarterback remaining, period,” Acho said on Jan. 4. “They have the worst quarterback remaining in Will Howard, I can confidently say that.”

 

And Howard can confidently say that he’s done one thing that Acho never did during his time in Austin: win a national championship.

 

Even when people weren’t overtly critical of Howard, praise for Ohio State was directed toward the team’s stellar defense or otherworldly skill position players like Ole Miss transfer running back Quinshon Judkins and freshman phenom wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.

 

But then things started to shift after Ohio State got rolling in the playoff. First, Howard and the Buckeyes crushed Tennessee on the back of a 311-yard, 24-of-29 passing performance. Then, Howard’s magnum opus, the 41-21 revenge win over No. 1 Oregon. Another 300-yard passing performance with three touchdowns.

 

The final hurdle to clear was Texas, a team that Howard never beat as a Wildcat, though he got devastatingly close several times. It was more of a defensive battle, but Howard still out-dueled former five-star Ohio State recruit Quinn Ewers, putting up 289 yards and a score.

 

Just a three-star kid out of Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

 

Howard’s final collegiate performance was certainly one to remember. In a game where Ohio State’s defense and its highly-touted skill position players nearly let Notre Dame into the game after the Buckeyes took a huge first-half lead, it was Howard who stayed the course and finished the job.

 

After starting 14-of-15 with the lone incompletion coming from a drop that was nearly pulled in by an Ohio State running back, Howard iced the game with a 56-yard completion to Smith that led to a field goal that put the game out of reach for the Fighting Irish.

 

He was named the Offensive MVP of the game. He’s also the first transfer quarterback since Cam Newton to win a national title in his first season.

 

“It’s crazy to look back at all that’s happened during my career, going from playing as a freshman at Kansas State,” Howard said. “And not really knowing what I’m doing and going into my junior year, not thinking I’d be playing and then winning a Big 12 championship. I’m just so unbelievably thankful that I got a chance to be a Buckeye, even if it was just one year.”

 

The question begs to be asked, did K-State make a mistake letting Howard walk out the door all those months ago in favor of sophomore Avery Johnson?

 

No. Well, at least I don’t think so.

 

The 2024 season was bumpy at times for the Wildcats. Despite ending on a high note with a 44-41 win over Rutgers in the Rate Bowl and nine wins, marking the third straight season K-State has won nine or more games in a year, expectations were (probably unfairly) high for last season’s Wildcats.

 

The team was young, the offensive coordinator was new and the conference got turned upside down with teams like Colorado, BYU, Arizona State and Iowa State ruling the roost while Utah and Oklahoma State didn’t even make a bowl game.

 

It wasn’t a reload year, despite what fans and media wanted to think heading into the season. It was a reboot, one whose success will be judged by the success of the next season and the season following.

 

Would Will Howard have elevated that team to a Big 12 title? Maybe, but we’ll never really know. There were times when Johnson’s inexperience led to costly mistakes that became part of some painful losing efforts. But last season’s issues went far beyond the quarterback spot.

 

The offensive line was inconsistent, the secondary was porous, the wide receivers went MIA again for most of the season, and special teams seemed just a touch off for nearly the entire year.

 

That’s a lot for any quarterback to overcome.

 

Johnson grew as the year went on and Howard got a chance to go somewhere where he could win the respect of the national media and NFL scouts and make a boatload of NIL money.

 

People may try to make K-State coaches look like fools for not doing whatever would’ve been necessary to keep Howard in Manhattan, but sometimes the marriage needs to end. It doesn’t mean there won’t be love and respect for both sides heading into the future.

 

But last year’s K-State team was not going to be able to get Howard to where Ohio State took him, and if I had to bet, Howard staying an extra year wouldn’t have helped get K-State to whatever heights Johnson and the rest of the young Wildcat roster will reach in the next several seasons.

 

In my mind, everyone won. K-State secured its future and Howard got to prove that he could play at the highest level of college football, which will surely earn him a chance in the NFL.

 

Throughout it all, Howard has made it clear that he’ll always be a Wildcat. In fact, the night before the national title game, there was a picture of him with a K-State fan holding up the Wildcat hand signal.

 

And in Manhattan Monday night, Aggieville bars were packed with Howard supporters, hoping the former Wildcat could close things out with a win.

 

Someday, K-State football will have a national title of its own. Until then, I think it’s more than OK to be happy that Howard won his for Ohio State.

 

It doesn’t come with a trophy or a banner or a parade down Moro or Poyntz, but there’s pride in seeing one of your own achieve at the highest level. And that’s worth quite a bit.