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“People saw me as a running quarterback my first two years at K State, believe it or not, even though it’s not necessarily my forte,” Howard remarked. “On the game card, I had a section titled ‘Will Howard plays,’ which was similar to ‘quarterback power.'” That was my specialty.

Howard carried 101 times in 14 games during his first two seasons with the Wildcats, all on planned runs or scrambles. This means there are 7.2 carries every game.

No Buckeye quarterback has run so frequently since Justin Fields’ 2019 campaign, when he carried or scrambled 7.57 times per game.

In contrast, during the 12-game regular season in 2022, C.J. Stroud carried the ball 27 times. Only 16 times did Kyle McCord do so in the previous campaign; the remaining 16 were added by Devin Brown, mostly in his red zone package. Despite spending more time in the pocket last season, Howard still managed 5.33 non-sack carries per game on average.

But as a runner, Howard is not Fields. Because so few are, Fields’ 1,143 rushing yards for the Bears in 2022 were the second highest of any NFL quarterback in history.

Howard sees a player more akin to Fields during his time at OSU—first and foremost, a pocket passer who can make an impact when he needs to break out of his pocket. He’s already seen things that play to his talents, like play action ideas and bare bootleg potential.

“I feel like the offensive strategies used by coaches Day and O’Brien really fit my type of build and player type,” Howard remarked.

By August 31, that kind of player might appear differently than it has during the previous four Big 12 seasons.