Everyone expected the Pittsburgh Steelers to add a quarterback during the 2025 NFL Draft. And they did. It may not have been who people expected, but the Steelers took Ohio State QB Will Howard, fresh off a national championship.
Howard will have some friendly faces in Pittsburgh, joining his Buckeyes teammate and Steelers fourth-round pick, LB Jack Sawyer. He will also be reunited with his mentor from Kansas State, QB Skylar Thompson. But just who is Howard?
His Parents Knew They Had An Athlete On Their Hands Early
Sometimes, parents can see traits in their children at a very early age. These traits can be physical, like a child showing off that they can throw hard early or walk and run fast. These can also be mental, picking up language and related skills early.
For Will Howard’s parents, Maureen and Bob, they saw the physical traits of an athlete quite early in Will.
“From two years old when he was shooting buckets in our basement, making them, we kind of said, ‘There’s something a little different about him,'” said Howard’s dad, Bob, during an interview with NBC4 Columbus. “It’s been a fun ride.”
Multi-Sport Athlete (And PA Player of The Year)
After reading Bob Howard’s comments, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Will Howard wasn’t just a star on the football field at Downingtown West in PA. He also played basketball, scoring over 1,000 points during his high school career.
But it was on the football field where Howard really shone. He wrapped up his high school football career having thrown for 5,308 yards and 48 passing touchdowns. He also chipped in 21 rushing touchdowns (and 512 yards). His senior year was his breakout year, throwing for 2,543 yards and 27 touchdowns en route to being named Pennsylvania Player of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club.
Slighted By Penn State
Will Howard’s high school, Downingtown West, is less than three hours from Penn State University. And growing up, Howard was a huge Nittany Lions fan. He wanted to head to State College, PA, and play at Penn State. But even though he was a three-star quarterback, Penn State never came calling. So when Howard joined Ohio State and had a road matchup at Penn State, a reporter asked him about his thoughts on returning to Pennsylvania.
“I’m stoked, I’m stoked,” said Howard per video from the Big 10 YouTube channel. “I cannot wait. It’s going to be a homecoming for me. I grew up a Penn State fan. I wanted to go there my whole life. They didn’t think I was good enough, but I guess we’ll see next week if I was.”
And on the very first Buckeyes possession, it looked like the Nittany Lions were correct. Howard threw a pick-six on his first pass attempt of the game.
“It was not ideal, your first throw goes for six for the other team,” Howard said in the same video. “And in my mind, I said I have no choice. I have to go out here and fix this and get back on track for my teammates… After that pick-six and going right down the field and scoring, I was like, oh, we’re fine.”
Howard and Ohio State went on to win 20-13. Perhaps the Nittany Lions do wish they had pursued Will Howard more.
Fueled By Heartbreak And A Desire To Bounce Back
Early in the 2024 season, the Buckeyes went on the road to face the Oregon Ducks in a matchup of top-ranked teams. And in the dying moments, Howard and Ohio State had the ball with a chance to win on the road. But it ended in disaster. Howard, unable to find any receivers, tucked and ran. He tried to slide down with one second remaining while the Buckeyes had a timeout left to set up one final play. But he was ruled down with no time on the clock, and the Buckeyes lost.
“I knew how much time there was on the clock,” Howard said in that video from the Big 10. “I looked up right before I went down, and I thought there was still one second on the clock… I’ve watched that scenario back in my head thousands of times, what I could have done differently. How could I have gone down earlier? Could I have just thrown the ball out to the sideline quicker and gotten a quick completion? There are a million different things that we could have done, but for me, it’s all about how you bounce back from that.”
Eventually, Will Howard and his Buckeye teammates bounced back. They turned that loss into a run to the College Football Playoff and, eventually, a National Championship.
Dedicated To Giving Back
Throughout his football journey, Will Howard has consistently taken time to give back to the community, whether that’s Downingtown West High School or Kansas. While at Kansas State, Howard and Kansas State assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator Van Malone teamed up to help spearhead an effort to bring the Be A Match program and the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation to campus. This involved educating students about blood cancers, bone marrow, and stem cell transplants.
“There are so many people out there who have no idea about Be the Match, Get in the Game, or the bone marrow registry, or that they could save somebody’s life right now,” Howard said in an interview with KStateSports.com. “Somebody walking out there right now could save somebody’s life.”
And for Howard and Malone’s efforts, the Maxwell Football Club named them the winners of the 2022 Get in the Game Impact Award.
As for Howard’s hometown, despite his college career taking him to Kansas and Ohio, he hasn’t forgotten where he came from. Per his website, he hosted his first Impact Camp in 2023 with some of his teammates from Kansas State.
“I want to have as big an impact as I can on those kids,” Howard said in an interview with Limitless NIL ahead of the start of the camp.
