Earlier than he even made it to Pittsburgh, rookie quarterback Will Howard was endearing himself to the Steelers’ teaching employees. Excited to listen to his title referred to as and land with an NFL workforce, particularly one he linked with as a lot as Pittsburgh, Howard wished to waste no time getting in control.
In a fantastic characteristic article from The Inquirer’s Devin Jackson, Howard nearly instantly requested quarterbacks coach Tom Arth for the playbook. Arth needed to pull him again.
“On Sunday, Howard reached out to Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth for performs, in keeping with his mom, a lot to the delight of the Steelers teaching employees.
“[Arth] wrote [Will] again and stated, ‘Hey, we had been going to provide the weekend off, however because of this we drafted you, as a result of it’s the type of employee you’re,’” Howard’s mom, Maureen, informed Jackson.
Per the article, Howard reached out on Sunday to ask for the top begin. It’s an identical rookie story to 2021 first-round choose RB Najee Harris. Throughout spring practices, RBs Coach Eddie Faulkner needed to lovingly kick Harris out of the constructing, the rookie keen to remain and watch extra movie.
Moments like these from Howard are a driving motive why he was the Steelers’ choice. Liking the particular person as a lot because the participant, Howard is considered brilliant and hardworking. Out of highschool, his GPA was over 4.0, his SAT rating surpassed 1,300, and he was recruited by a bevy of Ivy League faculties (Cornell, Harvard, Princeton) earlier than Energy 4 faculties jumped in to supply.
Projected to be an early Day Three choice pre-draft, touchdown Howard within the sixth spherical is great worth. We had been excessive on him all through the method, pointing to his starter traits on tape. Although not an influence thrower, his contact and accuracy are spectacular and make him stand out from different quarterbacks within the class. Howard additionally performed his greatest soccer when the video games mattered most, main Ohio State to a nationwide title.
Regardless of the upside, Howard should battle for a roster spot. It’ll be removed from assured. Actually, his Pittsburgh battle will look quite a bit like those he had in school. At Kansas State, he competed with present Steelers’ teammate Skylar Thompson for the beginning job, the 2 going backwards and forwards when poor play or damage pressured a change. Regardless of who comes out on high, it’s apparent that work ethic received’t be the issue with Howard.
