Ohio State Football: All eyes on Howard as Spring ball begins

The Ohio State football team was in need of a ready-made quarterback for the 2024 season. With Kyle McCord bolting to the transfer portal, Ryan Day was looking for a stable presence at the position for the upcoming season. Will Howard appears to be exactly what the doctor ordered. And his new offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, has taken notice as well.

""Really impressed, you don’t have to talk to Will for more than five minutes to know where he’s coming from. He’s really focused, he knows he has a short window left in his college career and wants to capitalize on what that is. There’s a maturity to Will.""

- Chip Kelly

The Buckeyes have found a player who is motivated and who has a sense of urgency to do something great in his final season of college eligibility. It's not often that's the case. But for Will Howard, he sees the talent that Ohio State has and knows that something great is brewing in Columbus as he said, via Eleven Warriors:

""We won games at Kansas State because of the guys we had and the ‘togetherness’ we had. But we have that here, and we also have the talent. I’ve never been a part of something like this, and I am excited to see where this leads.""

- Will Howard

The work has already begun. Howard was busy in February building relationships and getting to know everybody inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. And now, it's time to see what Howard can bring to the table as Spring practices are underway. It also looks like Devin Brown is not going to just hand Howard the job, creating a competitive environment that should bolster the performance of the quarterback's room.

But in the end, with 27 starts under his belt and a bunch of wins at Kansas State, Howard should come out on top. And if he can just distribute the ball, on time and where it needs to go, the playmakers on this roster will do the rest. Howard does not need to be C.J. Stroud for this team to get to where it wants to go. He just needs to be himself.

And as all eyes are upon the new quarterback in Columbus this Spring, Howard will get a small taste of what it's like to be the quarterback at one of the nation's top programs. I hope he relishes it and takes it in with stride. The start of the 2024 football season is officially here.