Ryan Day seeing more accuracy in Will Howard

It’s only Day 1 of Ohio State‘s fall camp and Will Howard is already turning heads. On Thursday, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day pulled back the curtain on his transfer quarterback’s improvement this offseason.

“There was more zip on the ball and I thought there was more accuracy today,” Day said. “Again, [it’s] Day 1. What are you going to do with Day 1? But, I thought the ball came out with more pace. I thought he had more discernment. And, I thought there were some accurate throws out there.”

Even without the offseason improvement, Howard is an exceptional talent. Howard touted a 14-11 record in 25 career starts at Kansas State. His best season came last year when he notched 2,643 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing a career-high 61.3% of his passes.

He boasts 5,786 passing yards, 48 touchdowns and 25 interceptions in his career. In his first season with the Buckeyes, Howard hopes to add to his totals. To do so, Howard not only improved his arm power over the offseason but his body, as well.

Will Howard makes physical improvements

“We have the opportunity to use DEXA scans here to get an idea of their body fat and their makeup and their lean mass, and he got challenged,” Day said. “It’s one thing to put on weight and take off weight. But when you’re talking about body fat and lean mass, and those type of things — you’ll just see [Howard]. He looks different, he’s moving different. He worked hard on that.

“He changed his diet, changed his workout plan and dedicated himself to the offseason. I think you’re seeing that right now. Now he’s got to sustain that throughout the season. … he’s moving well for his size.”

While former starter Kyle McCord transferred to Syracuse, Howard’s competition for the starting spot behind center is still stiff. Along with Howard, Ohio State has redshirt sophomore Devin Brown, who was a former five-star prospect.

Additionally, the team added freshman five-star recruit Julian Sayin and first-year four-star Air Noland. Of course, Ohio State’s QB unit also still includes second-year talent Lincoln Kienholz, who received significant minutes in the Buckeyes’ loss against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.

Nonetheless, Ohio State will be forced to name its QB1 before long.

“It has to happen,” Day said. “But ideally, we’d like to have someone as a starter and then go into the season and get going with that. How that shakes out, I’m hoping that happens in the first week to 10 days, but it’s the same thing that happened last year. I’d like for it to happen, it didn’t even after the first couple of games.”