The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Ohio State QB Will Howard, in addition to teammate Jack Sawyer—however is he “the man”? As a sixth-round decide, historical past doesn’t favor that being the case, however he’ll have an opportunity to show himself. He was the man final yr for the Buckeyes, nonetheless, and Sawyer recalled when he first realized that.
For context, whereas Sawyer spent his entire profession at Ohio State, Will Howard solely arrived in 2024. He entered the switch portal after 4 years at Kansas State, the Buckeyes having a necessity at quarterback. USC and Miami additionally pursued him, however Howard knew Ohio State was the most effective alternative.
“Kyle [McCord] has simply gone within the portal and I used to be like, ‘what are we gonna do at quarterback?’”, Jack Sawyer stated on Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin podcast. “Coach [Ryan] Day simply smiled. He was like, ‘We received the man’. And I used to be like, ‘Who?’. He was like, ‘I can’t actually say something but, however I feel we’re gonna get Will Howard’”.
Sawyer then relayed that he watched and rooted for Howard whereas at Kansas State. And whereas his new Buckeyes teammates had been enthusiastic about him, in addition they needed to seek out out what he’s manufactured from. They noticed that he was large and will “sling it round”, in Sawyer’s phrases, however does he have the make-up?
“I need to see how robust this man is. Is that this man actually that gritty dude that we see on movie? Is he actually gonna be like that? A man that may will us to victory, take a pair photographs?’”, Sawyer recalled saying of Howard. And so he made positive to check him at spring practices, laying successful on him “a number of instances”.
After a pair weeks of follow and rising aggravation, Will Howard lastly unleashed on Jack Sawyer. “He throws it and I simply give him just a little test to the chest-chin space. And he goes again and he shoves me”, he advised Roethlisberger. “He’s like, ‘What the hell are you doing, man? Knock that shit off!’. And I used to be like, ‘Lastly! I’ve been ready so that you can do one thing like that for the final two weeks! Lastly!’”.
“That’s after we knew, okay, we received the man. We received the man”.
Howard went on to guide the Ohio State Buckeyes to the nationwide championship title that season. Howard, additionally showing on the podcast, credited this system in full for his development as a participant. Regardless of his successes, nonetheless, he nonetheless fell to the sixth spherical. But he landed with the crew he would have chosen for himself, anyway.
The Steelers had a necessity at quarterback both manner, with simply two on the roster in the beginning of the draft. They handed on the place 4 instances earlier than reaching the sixth spherical. With Will Howard nonetheless on the board, they only couldn’t say no anymore, their different main wants glad. And so they didn’t need to take him on the high of the draft. “Kenny Pickett with out the first-round strain”, one reporter not too long ago stated.
Howard is prone to spend his rookie season because the Steelers’ emergency quarterback, whether or not Aaron Rodgers indicators or not. Mason Rudolph would begin, and they’re probably to usher in a veteran backup. They’re additionally not relying on Howard creating into the long run face of the franchise. However they noticed one thing in him, maybe the identical issues Jack Sawyer noticed on the follow area, that drew them to him at the same time as they appeared set on passing on this quarterback draft class in its entirety. If he does succeed, it is going to be thanks in no small half to that indefinable drive that separates the greats.
