Denzel Burke Seeing More And More To Like From Will Howard

If you want to know what’s going on around Ohio State, one of the best people to ask is senior cornerback Denzel Burke. Burke rarely sugarcoats anything and does not believe in telling you that somebody is great if he hasn’t actually seen them be great yet.

That’s why he is one of the best people to ask about Buckeye quarterback Will Howard, who transferred in from Kansas State in January. Howard is the favorite to win the starting quarterback job this year at Ohio State, which means there will continue to be questions about him until the answers are provided completely.

Back in the spring after just two practices, Burke was asked for his thoughts on Howard, and he answered it just as was expected from him.

“Will Howard? Um, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s only been two days of practice, so we’ve still got a lot more days to go. But you know me, I’m gonna just keep it real. I still want to see more. I know he has high potential. I’m excited for him and the 13 more practices, so we’ll see.”

Howard spent all 15 of those practices competing with redshirt sophomore Devin Brown, among others. Burke said he saw Howard close strong, so there were encouraging glimpses at the time.

The encouraging news has continued over the summer as Burke has seen Howard grow as a leader on the team and establish himself in a number of ways.

“Yeah, so I guess you could say when you’re in the weight room, you kind of get a little taste of what guys are like, who they really are in the weight room,” Burke said. “I’ve seen flashes of him being a dog and being a leader, and that’s going to correlate to the field.”

Howard has worked hard to earn the trust and respect of his teammates both on the field and off of it. As a quarterback, Howard has a ton of strengths, but he’s also going to have plenty of people around to help him out. When you combine it all together, Burke sees some intriguing possibilities, but he also wants to see how much Howard has grown in this Ohio State offense since the spring.

“Just being able to see that and the moments we have together as a team and just seeing how he moves around, how he acts, I’m really excited,” he said. “On the field, I’m excited for what he has learned from spring ball because it’s not an easy defense to go against in practice. I’m ready to see how he elevates his game in this new offense he’s in and really excited for fall camp and the competitive nature of it.”

Denzel Burke understands that without solid quarterback play, this Buckeye team is going to have a very difficult time reaching its goals. He has seen some things from Howard that gives him the confidence that he can be the guy to lead this team, but there is still more work to do.

And as that work builds, so will the trust.

“The quarterback is the leader of this team and he needs to be able to be in situations where he’s calm and nothing can ever phase him,” Burke said. “You know that if the ball is in your hand, the whole team is in your hands. So just being able to put that trust in us, and us doing that likewise too.”

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