It’s onerous to conclude an excessive amount of from rookie minicamp because the practices are largely walkthroughs and gamers don’t even have their helmets on full-time but. Some issues which are simpler to guage, particularly for quarterbacks, are the intangible qualities like management and command of the huddle. In accordance with one Steelers insider, these qualities have been evident for sixth-round QB Will Howard throughout rookie minicamp over the weekend.
“We solely bought to look at the morning periods, and so they have been walk-throughs. However I’ll say this: I used to be impressed with Howard’s command of the huddle and the way he interacted with teammates. You possibly can inform he’s a high quality chief,” P-G’s Ray Fittipaldo wrote in his weekly Steelers chat.
Mike Tomlin described the few issues that he seems to be for in his rookie quarterbacks throughout minicamp. The flexibility to course of and talk new info to teammates and command of the huddle have been the 2 principal issues he talked about. By the sounds of it, Howard handed the primary take a look at with flying colours.
After watching Jon Gruden’s QB Class with Howard, that is actually no shock. Gruden put in a collection of audible calls in addition to a brand new cadence for Howard to work with and he applied it flawlessly. On the NFL Scouting Mix, Howard instructed me that he’s significantly pleased with his psychological recall skills in terms of the Xs and Os of soccer.
He graduated highschool with a 4.38 GPA and a 1,380 SAT rating with provides from Ivy League faculties like Yale and Harvard. It’s no shock to see that the psychological facet of his recreation and his command of the huddle look good early on.
He put these skills on show at Ohio State. After working in a read-option offense at Kansas State for the primary 4 years of his school profession, he switched to a pro-style offense underneath Chip Kelly at Ohio State. It wasn’t good early, however he was thrust right into a troublesome state of affairs in his first yr at a brand new program and really clearly improved because the season went on. He actually hit his stride within the playoffs.
Ohio State teammate Jack Sawyer defined why Howard is all the pieces you need in a quarterback and pointed to his confidence, poise and preparation. It little question helped that Howard reached out to QB coach Tom Arth instantly after getting drafted to get to work as quickly as potential.
If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t signal by the beginning of minicamp on the finish of the month, Howard will get some further reps with the total crew in attendance. How he handles issues with veterans round and a heavier set up of the offense would be the subsequent take a look at.
