Speed of Will Howard handy for Buckeyes run game

Will Howard took a quarterback sweep 80 yards left, down the sideline and to the house Saturday during the third practice of Ohio State training camp.

It was the play of the day on a day where Howard continued to take steps toward earning the starting quarterback job with the Buckeyes.

“Yeah, I felt fast,” the Kansas State graduate transfer said Tuesday with a smile.

“It was nice to get out and running a little bit. We made a little QB call on that play, and I got out and ran. It was fun. Obviously, it’s nice to compete with those guys and to try to outrun some DBs that are really, really fast.”

Howard didn’t just try to outrun those DBs. He did, and there wasn’t a photo finish.

Speaking of which, Ohio State offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and play-caller Chip Kelly said Noah Lyles — the U.S.A. track and field sprinter who squeezed out a dramatic, come-from-behind win in the Olympic 100-meter final — was the subject of head coach Ryan Day’s team meeting this week.

“Coach Day showed that in the meeting,” Kelly said, referencing Lyles’ 27.8 mile-per-hour max speed and his comeback win over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson for the Olympic gold medal. Lyles won by a margin of 0.005 seconds.

Kelly added: “There was a great lesson there.”

That came after Kelly declared Tuesday that this Buckeyes team “can run.”

“There’s a lot of guys at a lot of positions that can run,” Kelly said. “And the guys that are the most impressive to me are the big guys that can really run. We got some bigger guys. Will Howard’s a great example. Will went 22 miles an hour this summer at 237 pounds.”

Howard is the fastest player in the five-man Ohio State quarterback room. To be more exact, Kelly said he believes the fifth-year signal caller clocked in at 22.1 miles per hour. Second-year quarterback — and former three-sport Pierre, South Dakota, star — Lincoln Kienholz came in at 21.9. True freshman Air Noland runs somewhere in the 21s, Kelly said.

Kelly didn’t give splits for redshirt sophomore Devin Brown and true freshman Julian Sayin, Howard’s biggest threats for the QB1 job at the moment, but Kelly said both Brown and Sayin ran over 20 miles per hour this offseason.

“Every quarterback in our group runs over 20,” Kelly said. “But we’re also not going to run them 25 snaps a game. They’re not Tim Tebow now, so we’re not direct snapping it to them and running quarterback power. It’s just another facet of what we can do, and you have to account for the quarterback in the run game.”

Ohio State wants to run the quarterback this season, and that likely starts with Howard, who netted 921 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground in four years at Kansas State. Last season, the Downingtown, Pennsylvania, native carried the ball a career-high 81 times for a net of 351 yards and nine scores.

“When I was a young kid, I was a pretty good runner,” Howard said. “When I got to high school, I was a tall, skinny pocket passer, and I wasn’t really known for my running ability. I ran it from time to time. But when I got to K-State, I put on a little weight, and I started to get a little stronger in my in my leg areas.”

As a true freshman during the 2020 season, Howard made his first career start Week 6 against TCU, and he ripped off an 80-yard touchdown on a quarterback draw.

🚨🚨🚨 WILL HOWARD (@whoward_) IS LOOSE 🚨🚨🚨 #KStateFB pic.twitter.com/hyrPVUhQPI

— Mitchel Summers (@MitchSummersTV) October 10, 2020

“I surprised myself a little bit,” a reflective Howard said Tuesday. “I had some good runs in camp, and people knew I was good athlete, but, I was like, ‘Man, did I just really just do that?’ And, from then on, it just kind of became a part of my game.

“I just got more and more confident with it. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Throughout my whole career [at Kansas State], obviously, I ran the ball a good amount, and I enjoy running the ball. I think people always ask me, ‘Is it more fun to run a touchdown or throw a touchdown?’ I like to run it. I think it’s pretty cool to run in there and celebrate with your teammates.”

Howard reiterated: “But yeah, it’s definitely been a big part of my game. It’s going to need to be.”