James Franklin and Penn State shouldn’t regret passing on Ohio State QB Will Howard

Week 10 is a homecoming game for Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, a Pennsylvania native who committed to Kansas State as a three-star recruit out of Downingtown West High School, and now he’s heading to Happy Valley with a chip on his shoulder. 

Penn State didn’t offer Howard in the 2020 recruiting class, which it appears the longtime (and presumably former) Nittany Lions fan hasn’t forgotten. Now, after transferring to Columbus for his final season of eligibility, Howard is leading one of the most lethal offenses in the country for the No. 4 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and despite a last-second loss to Oregon in Eugene earlier this year, has his new team positioned to make the Big Ten title game and College Football Playoff. All he has to do is beat Penn State, his hometown team that passed on him five years ago, but even if he does, James Franklin and Penn State still shouldn’t regret passing on him. 

One reason there shouldn’t be any regret is that Penn State wasn’t the only team that overlooked the 6-foot-4 high schooler. Howard only received five power-conference offers: Rutgers, Minnesota, Maryland, Kansas, and his eventual home, Kansas State. The other is that the Nittany Lions were set at QB, and even with Howard’s prolific final season of college football, they’re still better off. 

In 2020, Penn State only took one quarterback, three-star Micah Bowens, the lowest-rated player in that year’s recruiting class because they had Sean Clifford stepping in to replace Trace McSorley and had landed Will Levis in the 2018 recruiting class. While I’ve never been the biggest fan of Clifford’s, he’s now the program’s all-time leading passer and had three seasons with 20+ touchdown passes, a feat Howard never matched across his four years at K-State. Howard also never completed more than 61% of his throws. 

Now, Howard has thrown for 1,795 yards and 17 touchdowns through seven starts for the Buckeyes, both the second-highest total of his five-year career, and he’s completing 74% of his throws and averaging nearly 10 yards per attempt. He’s statistically one of the best quarterbacks in the country, but he’s also been seated in the nation’s fastest racecar and simply been asked not to crash it. 

Freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith is already filling Marvin Harrison Jr.’s shoes as the No. 1 target in Columbus across from potential first-round NFL draft pick Emeka Egbuka while Ole Miss transfer QuinShon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson have become the most terrifying backfield duo in college football. Yet, as with any high-speed racecar, durability is a big question, and with left tackle Josh Simmons out for the year after an injury he suffered against Oregon, Ohio State managed just 21 points in a four-point win over Nebraska as a 26.5-point home favorite and Howard completed just one pass for five yards when pressured. 

Not to mention that while Howard was leading the Wildcats, James Franklin plucked the No. 1 quarterback in the 2022 recruiting class right out of Ohio. Without an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver, Drew Allar was playing as well as any quarterback in the country before his knee injury at the end of the first half against Wisconsin. Allar struggled against the Buckeyes last season but is a different player in first-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s system, a better player than Howard, and one with an additional year of eligibility if he can resist the call to the NFL this offseason. 

Howard has become a better player than Penn State’s coaching staff seemingly ever expected, and he’s justified to come into this matchup against his hometown team with a chip on his shoulder, but even if he beats the Nittany Lions on Saturday, they’ve been fine without him. This season, Howard has already proved his point; he was, in fact, "good enough" to play at Penn State, and now he's leading an objectively superior program, but that doesn't mean there was ever a fit for him in Happy Valley.