Will Howard Updates: Ready To Play First Big Ten Game

COLUMBUS — Ohio State starting quarterback Will Howard met with reporters on Tuesday to discuss Saturday’s win over Marshall and look ahead to his first Big Ten game as a Buckeye. The highlights of everything he had to say can be found below.

Carnell Tate has done a really, really good job this year without the ball in his hands. He has taken ownership of blocking and being a leader in the room. They are all selfless in the receiver room. They want to continue to reward him for his work blocking.
How do you feel about your deep pass consistency right now? It’s just about repetitions. They didn’t have many opportunities in the last game and didn’t need to. Not gonna complain about guys taking slant routes for 53 yards. They haven’t shown deep shots a ton right now which can be a good thing and a bad thing. He hasn’t really shown that yet and he believes it should be a strength of the offense. It’s just putting the ball up for his receivers and letting them make plays. Trusting that they’ll be where they need to be.
What’s tough about going against Caleb Downs? He plays so hard downhill and reacts so quickly. You have to be quicker and truer with your reads. It changes the way you run the RPO because he can even the leverage issues.
On his INT: “The kid made a good play.” After looking at it, they want the receiver splits to be a little closer. Howard is supposed to put the ball on a certain spot. That was a on in a hundred kind of play that happened. “I can’t throw picks. Things like that can’t happen.” But they bounced back well and didn’t bat an eye.
Michigan State has good players up front and in the secondary. Their scheme is pretty good. They do some good things. They attacked Boston College more than their other opponents. Number 2 off the edge is good. The linebackers are veteran who are instinctive who play downhill. Ohio State has some things that can get them confused and get them out of their gaps. This will be the best front they’ve seen outside of practice.
On the transfers fitting in seamlessly: That’s a credit to everybody that was already in the building. He’ll be eternally grateful for the way he was accepted. “We all came in with the right attitude and right mindset.” Everybody is here for the right reasons. They wanted to bring in good players, but good people as well. This is a tight-knit locker room, which makes it easy to come into it and be a part of this team. It’s a privilege.
How have you seen your leadership grow? “I’m an encourager. I’m a positive guy.” You can’t be positive all the time and sometimes you have to pull people along, but at the end of the day, you’re playing a kid’s game. Smile, have fun. That’s how he approaches things. He has gotten more comfortable in his role as a leader. “I just want to continue to be a positive force for this team.”
“I don’t think I’ve really shown much in terms of my running yet. I’m excited to do that.” Teams aren’t too worried about him based on what he’s seen from defensive schemes so far. There are more opportunities for him to show his ability to run.
On his comfort with RPOs: It just takes time. The older he’s gotten, the more he’s seen all of the pictures and all of the looks. Probably settled in well in his junior season at Kansas State. “I’m the run-game coordinator at the end of the day.” There is still more they can show.
Looking forward to playing a Big Ten game? “Absolutely.” Excited to play a night game in the Big Ten. “It’s a cool opportunity, man.” Now things get real.
“We’ve come out and shown how explosive we can be in the run game and the pass game.” “We’re running our offense and those guys (the RBs) are making plays.” They aren’t doing anything special to get the running game going, they’re just running the offense and executing the scheme.
“Dudes” are bigger in the Big Ten up front. They hit hard and come downhill. But at the end of the day, it’s football. “I’m not looking at it any different.”
“We have the talent and ability, we should beat everyone every week.”