Will Howard explains why he transferred to Ohio State over Miami, USC

Will Howard capped a rollercoaster collegiate career on the highest of highs after helping lead Ohio State to the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship with Monday night’s 34-23 win over Notre Dame inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But it’s an experience that might not have played out the same if the former Kansas State transfer quarterback made another decision during his month-long foray in the NCAA Transfer Portal last offseason.

During a Tuesday afternoon appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Howard reminisced about his 39-day experience in the transfer portal, and how he ended up choosing the Buckeyes over strong interest from Miami, USC and the 2024 NFL Draft.

“Going into that last year (2023 season), I was really expecting to hopefully have a good year, build upon the Big 12 Championship year and hopefully go to the Draft. But obviously coming out of the year I didn’t feel like my draft stock was where I felt like my talent level and my potential was. So I felt like if I could go somewhere and feel like I could give myself a chance to move up draft boards and turn myself in to a better player, and really just continue to elevate, I wanted to do that,” Howard recalled. “And at first, a bunch of people started reaching out when I first entered, but it really came down to really Miami, USC and (Ohio State). And when I was looking at it, the two things I said I wanted to do was compete for a natty and elevate my draft stock. There was no place that came close to that in terms of either of those things like Ohio State.

“When it came down to it, … I was either going to the Draft, I had a Senior Bowl invite and was all teed up to go to the Draft, but this opportunity came up and I could not pass it up.”

Howard committed to Ohio State on Jan. 4, 2024, and 381 days later was hoisting the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium after guiding the Buckeyes to a dominant four-game run through the first-ever 12-team Playoff.

It was a seminal moment for Howard, who enters the 2025 NFL Draft as the sixth-ranked quarterback on ESPN expert Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest QB rankings. Fellow ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid currently projects Howard as a “late Day 3” option or undrafted free agent, though Howard certainly has time to improve his stock among NFL personnel over the next few months before the late-April draft.

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

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

“Just showed the type of quarterback he is,” Smith said after Monday’s game. “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.

Nick Kosko contributed to this report.