Only two QBs were picked in the first round of the NFL Draft this year, but 14 were selected overall. The eighth off the board was Ohio State QB Will Howard, taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 185 overall. Howard now goes from one iconic program in college football’s biggest rivalry to another iconic franchise in the NFL’s most storied rivalry.
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Howard played just one season in Columbus for the Buckeyes during his senior year in 2024. But it was a big one. After four years at Kansas State, he transferred to Ohio State and promptly led them to a National Championship that seemed highly improbable just a month prior, in November 2024, to be exact.
That’s because on the last day of November, they lost 13-10 to their bitter rivals, the Michigan Wolverines. What made matters worse was that Michigan had won the Natty the year before and was having a down year, yet still found a way to beat their rivals. Howard was only there for one year, but he understood how much that loss meant.
“Me, just being new to the rivalry, you know, obviously I was a Penn State fan. Penn State thinks that their rivals are Ohio State, and Ohio State just doesn’t really see it that way. Like, being on both sides of it, it’s interesting,” said Howard.
Unfortunately, Howard’s one-year stay with the Buckeyes featured one of the most frustrating losses in the rivalry’s recent history. He threw for just 175 yards and one TD while throwing two interceptions in the game. That was the only multi-INT game of his campaign. Perhaps the loss even fueled Ohio State’s dominant finish to the season.
Perhaps the loss even fueled Ohio State’s dominant finish to the season. Howard described just how important the rivalry with Michigan is when you’re at Ohio State. He said there’s a “huge emphasis on it” and they “talk about it every single day.”
It’s almost like California gang culture, where you can’t wear red in a Crip neighborhood and you can’t wear blue in a Blood neighborhood. And in Columbus, the banned color is Michigan’s navy blue.
“No M’s in the building. Can’t wear blue. I don’t think I’ve worn blue this whole year… I remember I showed up on my visit… and the second day I woke up and threw on a blue rhoback hoodie,” Howard said.
“And I didn’t even think about it, and I walked into the facility, and I felt like people were looking at me weird. Nobody actually said anything to me, but as soon as I got in there — it was freezing cold, damn near negative degrees — [I took the hoodie off] and I was walking around in a t-shirt,” he added.
Howard also talked about how he doesn’t do things halfway. When he decided to be a Buckeye, he was going to be “a freaking Buckeye” all the way.
The Steelers will be hoping he can bring that same mentality to their bitter rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens. Pittsburgh, despite being the lower quality team for the last few years, is 8-3 against Baltimore in the recent past.
Howard will have to beat out the likes of Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson for the starting job first. But that doesn’t seem like too tall a mountain to climb.
