Jeremiah Smith declares Will Howard a first round pick after national championship

Jeremiah Smith can’t quite go to the NFL yet, but his QB Will Howard will and the Ohio State freshman wide receiver called him a first round pick.

With the way Howard played this season and in the national championship, it’s hard to argue that fact. Howard wasn’t mentioned in the same breath as Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders. Heck, not even Quinn Ewers.

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We’ll see how the Big Boards shake out over the spring, but Howard should be one of the first 32 picks this year according to Smith.

“Just showed the type of quarterback he is,” Smith said. “In my eyes he’s a first round draft pick. Will’s a great leader on and off the field as well. He just had a great week of preparation leading us to this victory tonight.”

Howard finished the 34-23 win over Notre Dame 17-of-21 passing for 231 yards, two touchdowns and ran 16 times for 57 yards. This season, he finished with 4,010 yards, 35 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, a 73.1% completion percentage, 226 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

Perhaps the biggest moment in the fourth quarter was when Howard threw a third down pass to Smith to ice the game. It was a 56-yard throw to the freshman wide receiver down the right sideline.

Maybe the best throw of Howard’s career? 

“Man, they were running man coverage,” Howard said. “I said ‘Hey, I’m going to go let this thing loose for No. 4 and let him make a play on it.’ That was an unbelievable play, unbelievable play call, man. It took some nuts to call that. So, that was a fitting way to end it.”

During his own on-field postgame interview, head coach Ryan Day admitted the plan was for Howard to target Smith the moment they say one-on-one coverage on the outside. Chip Kelly had yet to comment on his decision but appeared to have a ton of confidence in Howard and Smith.

In total, Smith caught five passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. He was wide open on the score, coming on Ohio State’s opening drive to tie the game at seven. Between his touchdown and the 56-yard field goal, Notre Dame held Smith to just two receptions for 17 yards.

Now Howard will celebrate and pivot towards an NFL career after a great college career at Kansas State and Ohio State. Perhaps a national champion quarterback is set to vault up draft boards in April.