Will Howard on Buckeyes QB coach Billy Fessler: "He's absolutely 100-percent the best man for that job"
INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State national championship-winning quarterback Will Howard would have taken issue with his now-former head coach Ryan Day if Day didn’t make the move.
With quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly off to Las Vegas to become the offensive coordinator of the Raiders, Day had a quarterbacks coaching opening on his staff, and Howard knew exactly who Day should hire: quarterbacks assistant Billy Fessler.
Nevermind that Fessler is only 29 years old and hasn’t been a full-time position coach at a place like Ohio State yet. Day did what Howard wanted him to do — not because Howard said so but because Fessler is a really good, young, up-and-coming offensive mind who is now locked in with the Buckeyes as the quarterbacks coach.
Howard knew a good coach when he was coached by one, and he has full confidence in Fessler leading that position group — the most important one on the field — moving forward with young potential stars in Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair.
“If Coach Day didn’t hire him as the quarterbacks coach, I would’ve had a problem with it,” Howard said jokingly before praising Fessler further. “But, man, he taught me so much this year. He was integral to my development and he’s absolutely, without a doubt, 100-percent the best man for that job. I think he’s going to be great for that room.”
Fessler was hired by Ohio State on Feb. 20 after working under Kelly last season on their way to the national title win. He previously worked for offensive mind Joe Moorhead, the head coach at Akron, before Kelly hired Fessler to be the UCLA quarterbacks coach — before they both left for Ohio State just weeks later.
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Howard has credited Fessler a lot of the development he went through during his lone season at Ohio State. Of course, Howard went from a potential draft pick when he left Kansas State to a national champion and a fast-rising, intriguing prospect.
He believes Fessler is a big part of why.
“He brings a human element to it where he’s not that much older than us so he’s able to relate to us on a guy-to-guy level,” Howard said of Fessler. “But he’s also able to lock in. He taught me more than a lot of guys in that role ever could have. He really was the mouthpiece from coach Day to me, coach Kelly to me. A lot of times if they were doing anything else, he was really my personal, 1-on-1 QB coach at times and he was great man. I’ve got all the praise in the world for that dude. He helped me so much. The things that we did on Thursdays, going on our walks, talking about every play in the game plan, what is each pass play, what its best against, what is it good against, what do we have to manage it against.
“I felt so prepared going into every game and a big part of that was because of Billy.”
Ohio State saw what Fessler brought to the quarterback room, and Howard delivered a glowing review of his time with the young offensive mind.
Billy Fessler is leading the Ohio State quarterback room now, and Will Howard didn’t want it any other way.
