Will Howard's development and commitment to play-action open up new possibilities for Ohio State's offense

Michael Cohen

College football and college basketball writer

Just as they did at the end of spring practice, Ohio State's coaches gave quarterback Will Howard a checklist of things to address during an off week following season-opening wins over Akron and Western Michigan. In April, areas for improvement included Howard needing to develop a deeper understanding of the offense, solidify his technique, optimize his body composition and make the most of every pound and inch of his 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame. While those demands were still specific to Howard, who transferred from Kansas State, they were the type of demands typically placed on most quarterbacks entering a new program.

This time, however, the demands were far more complex for new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who said the Buckeyes' coaching staff evaluated each player during the off week. They involved things like how Howard handled play-action fakes, his basic footwork on certain plays, his ability to recognize pre-snap indicators to spot coverages well before the snap. In other words, Howard had moved past the basics of Ohio State's quarterback game and arrived at the collegiate level in time for Saturday's game against Marshall (noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

“Will continues to grow every day,” Kelly said at a press conference earlier this week. “That's one thing I love about him. He's a lifelong learner. He comes here every day and asks himself, 'How do I get a little better every day?' And I think last week he improved in practice compared to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”

Additionally, he made significant progress between his first and second appearances in an Ohio State uniform, helping to allay any doubts from a fan base still put off by the quarterback's inconsistent performance last year. Kyle McCord then transferred to Syracuse and got off to a great start to the season, completing 59 of 85 passes (69.4%) for 735 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception in two games.

Howard overcame a rocky start against Akron in which he completed 10 of his first 16 passes and led just two touchdown drives in the Buckeyes' first six possessions, to then get off to a sparkling start against Western Michigan last weekend. He completed 10 straight passes to start the game — including a 70-yard touchdown to freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, a rising star at wide receiver — and led Ohio State to the end zone on five of his first six drives, ultimately leading to a 56-0 victory. By the end of the game, Howard had completed 18 of 26 passes (69.2%) for 292 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, according to Pro Football Focus, and posted an NFL passer rating of 119.4. Howard's season passer rating of 120.9 is more than 30 points above his career average.

“I actually have classes in the evenings this semester,” Howard said in a press conference earlier this week. “And don't tell my professors, but sometimes I watch a little movie in class. I love watching movie every day, no matter what it is. I just love waking up and watching a little bit of stuff. I love football and I love chess. I love how much strategy there is in it. And I think that's a great part of it: to come out and have something planned for your opponent that they're not prepared for, or to see something before it happens, is really great.”

And there is arguably no better chess master for Howard than Kelly, whose influence on Ohio State's offense appears to have been far greater in the first few weeks of the season than most outsiders expected when head coach Ryan Day turned over playmaking duties to his mentor and close friend. Kelly's extensive and consistent commitment to creative pre-snap movement has opened up new nuances for opposing defenders to process in real time. And combined with Kelly's extensive array of play-action fakes and run-pass options (RPOs) reminiscent of a quarterback's sleight of hand, the number of possible outcomes of any play starts to get quite extensive: from the traditional handoff to the running back to an RPO in which Howard, who rushed for more than 900 yards in four seasons for Kansas State, pulls the ball from the tailback's belly and carries it himself; from a play-action pass coming out of the pocket to a sprint out that bypasses the defense and requires less reading from Howard of the field.

It's the play-action passes that have proved lethal for Ohio State so far: According to Pro Football Focus, Howard has completed 19 of 25 such attempts for 321 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Play-action passes account for 46.4% of Howard's dropbacks through the first two weeks — a huge increase from the 28.9% he posted with the Wildcats last year — and his adjusted completion percentage of 87.5%, which doesn't penalize quarterbacks for dropped balls, ranks fourth nationally among signal-callers with at least 25 such attempts. Smith, who was a five-star prospect and the top recruit for the 2024 cycle, leads the team with 11 receptions for 211 yards and three touchdowns. The fact that he averages more than 19 yards per catch speaks both to the vertical element of Ohio State's offense and to Smith's strong ability to generate yards after every catch (73 in the first two games).

“As long as I can stick to our schedule and not force anything,” Howard said, “I'm making the right decisions on the football, with the guys we have, and letting them do the rest. We block really well. I think the running backs have done a good job and the receivers are obviously going to get free. So for me, it's just about taking what the defense gives me and not trying too hard and making the perfect play, just doing everything right.”

And as Howard noted, the effectiveness of Ohio State's passing game can be directly tied to a running attack that ranks 18th nationally at 6.2 yards per carry, behind the one-two punch of tailbacks Quinshon Judkins (22 carries, 163 yards, 3 TDs) and TreVeyon Henderson (18 carries, 131 yards, 2 TDs), both of whom force defenses to embrace the play-action fakes. True freshman tailback James Peoples, who was a four-star recruit out of Texas, has contributed 81 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries as the Buckeyes' third runner.

Ohio State's average of 36 run attempts through the first two weeks is slightly above last year's average (33.2) when Day was calling plays. The Buckeyes rank first nationally in Power Success Rate, a metric that measures how often short-yardage runs either convert a first down or score a touchdown, and they rank third in Offensive Stuff Rate, which measures the percentage of runs stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. All of that makes Howard's life a lot easier.

“I think it starts with the runs,” Day said at a press conference earlier this week. “Now when you run the ball, you have to be more aggressive (as a defense), the safeties have to go deeper, you have to put an extra man in the box, which expands the opportunities on the field. But I think the work we've put into timing some of those concepts — the defense has been strong, like I said — but it's about timing those things and connecting the run game with the play-action pass because they go hand in hand. And then there's the RPOs, which are similar to that as well.

“But you always try to complement the runs with some kind of play-action pass to get people in conflict. Chip has always done that and we've always done that here. Almost every play you want to get someone in conflict.”

On Saturday, Marshall will be the party in conflict.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports, focusing on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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