Will Howard Named Ohio State Starting Quarterback For 2024 Season

COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has named fifth-year senior Will Howard as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback for the 2024 season.

“Will Howard is our starting quarterback,” Day said.

Day said Howard graded out “significantly” ahead of the other quarterbacks.

“We’re excited about Will being the starter,” Day said.

Howard battled redshirt sophomore Devin Brown in both spring and fall camps for the starting job. Brown led the way in the competition in the spring as Howard dealt with mastering the scheme and playbook after transferring in from Kansas State in January.

Howard continued to bury himself in the playbook over the summer and his understanding of the offense was apparent early on in fall camp.

This is the second year in a row that Brown has fallen short in a quarterback competition at Ohio State. Last year, the battle with Kyle McCord lasted into the season, even though McCord started every game and played the bulk of the snaps until he was ultimately named the official starter after the second game of the season.

Day has already stated previously that he didn’t want to go that route this year if he didn’t have to, but this announcement is still earlier than previous announcements in 2019 and 2021.

In 2019, Day named Justin Fields the starting quarterback on August 19. In 2021, he named CJ Stroud the starter on August 21. Both of those announcements came after the Buckeyes’ second scrimmage of fall camp. Ohio State’s second scrimmage of this year’s fall camp will take place this weekend.

The announcement of Will Howard does not come as a surprise given that Day went into the transfer portal this winter looking for a veteran starting quarterback.

Howard spent his first four years at Kansas State where he started 27 total games — which included starts in each of those four years. It wasn’t until 2023 where he was named the full-time starter, however.

In his time with the Wildcats, Howard threw for 5,786 yards with 48 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. He completed 58.8% of his passes. He also rushed for 921 yards and 19 touchdowns in that same span.

As a fourth-year junior last year, Howard completed 61.3% of his passes, throwing for 2,643 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 351 yards with nine touchdowns.

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