# Will Howard (American football)

Will Howard (born September 24, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Howard began his college football career at Kansas State before transferring to Ohio State in 2024, where he led the Buckeyes to the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship.

## Early life

Howard grew up in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and attended Downingtown West High School. He was named the Maxwell Football Club Pennsylvania Player of the Year after passing for 2,543 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior. Howard finished his high school career with 5,308 passing yards and 48 touchdown passes while also rushing for 512 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also was a two-time All-Area selection in basketball and scored over 1,000 points in his varsity career.
Howard was rated a three-star recruit and received more than 20 total scholarship offers. He committed to play college football at Kansas State after considering offers from Maryland, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Kansas.

## College career
### Kansas State

Howard joined the Kansas State Wildcats as an early enrollee in January 2020. He began his freshman season as the backup to starting quarterback Skylar Thompson and started the final seven games after Thompson suffered a serious injury. Howard finished the season with 90 completions on 168 pass attempts for 1,178 yards with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions and rushed for 364 yards and three touchdowns. He served as Thompson's backup again as a sophomore after competing for the starting job in practice. Howard played in six games with three starts.
As a junior, Howard began spring practice as the Wildcats first-string quarterback. Transfer Adrian Martinez was ultimately named the starter going into the 2022 and he initially intended to redshirt the season. Howard came in relief of Martinez after he suffered an injury against TCU and led the Wildcats on four straight touchdown drives and started the following game against Oklahoma State. Howard completed 19 of 27 passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns in relief of Martinez after he suffered another injury against Baylor. He became Kansas State's starting quarterback a second time after it was revealed Martinez's injury was serious. Howard finished the season with 1,633 passing yards and 14 touchdowns and four interceptions in seven games played.
After his junior season, Howard entered the transfer portal on November 27, 2023.

### Ohio State

On January 4, 2024, Howard committed to Ohio State for his senior season following an official visit to Columbus. On August 5, 2024, he was named the starter. On January 20, 2025, Howard led Ohio State to a victory over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship, being named Offensive MVP.

### College statistics

| Season | Team | Games | Games | Games | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Rushing | Rushing | Rushing | Rushing |
| Season | Team | GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2020 | Kansas State | 9 | 7 | 2−5 | 90 | 168 | 53.6 | 1,178 | 7.0 | 8 | 10 | 116.3 | 78 | 364 | 4.7 | 3 |
| 2021 | Kansas State | 6 | 3 | 1−2 | 30 | 55 | 54.5 | 332 | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 107.6 | 32 | 184 | 5.8 | 4 |
| 2022 | Kansas State | 7 | 5 | 4−1 | 119 | 199 | 59.8 | 1,633 | 8.2 | 15 | 4 | 149.6 | 35 | 22 | 0.6 | 3 |
| 2023 | Kansas State | 12 | 12 | 8−4 | 219 | 357 | 61.3 | 2,643 | 7.4 | 24 | 10 | 140.1 | 81 | 351 | 4.3 | 9 |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 16 | 16 | 14−2 | 309 | 423 | 73.0 | 4,010 | 9.5 | 35 | 10 | 175.3 | 105 | 226 | 2.2 | 7 |
| Career | Career | 50 | 43 | 29−14 | 767 | 1,202 | 63.8 | 9,796 | 8.1 | 83 | 35 | 149.2 | 331 | 1,147 | 3.5 | 26 |

## Professional career

Pre-draft measurables :
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump |
| 6 ft 4+1⁄4 in (1.94 m) | 236 lb (107 kg) | 32 in (0.81 m) | 9 in (0.23 m) | 4.33 s | 7.13 s | 31.5 in (0.80 m) | 9 ft 4 in (2.84 m) |
| All values from NFL Combine ||||||||

## Personal life

Howard is the son of Bob and Maureen Howard. He has one brother and two sisters. Howard's younger brother plays football at Kansas State.
Howard is a Christian.