Steelers Fans Must Be Excited About the Team Drafting the Former Quarterback from Ohio State
Going into this year’s NFL Draft, everyone knew the Steelers had to address their quarterback situation. Steelers fans watched with anticipation to find out who the team would select as their next quarterback. Many people believed that the team would pick a quarterback in the first three rounds of the draft. The wait was longer than expected. The Steelers finally drafted a quarterback in the sixth round. They chose Will Howard from Ohio State. Howard is six feet four and weighs 236 pounds.
Howard is a Pennsylvania native. He was born in West Chester, PA. The former Ohito State quarterback attended Downingtown West High School. During his senior year, he was named the Maxwell Football Club Pennsylvania Player of the Year. He received the honor after passing for 2,543 yards and 27 touchdowns in his last high school football season. Howard had a total of 5,308 passing yards and 48 touchdown passes throughout his high school career. Howard earned over 20 college scholarship offers. The 23-year-old committed to playing for the Kansas State Wildcats.
In 2020 and 2021, Howard and Skylar Thompson shared quarterback duties for the Wildcats. Howard transferred to the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024. On August 5th, 2024, the Buckeyes named Howard their starting quarterback. He led the team to the College Football Playoff National Championship as the Buckeyes defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23. Howard received the honor of Offensive MVP of the Game. During his last collegiate football season, he averaged nine and a half yards per passing attempt. He also averaged 2.66 seconds to throw the football despite attacking downfield. Throughout his college football career, he had 9,994 passing yards with 85 passing touchdowns and 1,147 rushing yards with 26 rushing touchdowns.
Howard was thrilled to be chosen by the Steelers. He said, “I’m a Pennsylvania kid, it just makes a lot of sense, and the Steelers, I feel like, is an organization that I’ve had a lot of respect for a lot of years. Coming into this process, I was honestly hoping that the Steelers would take me just because I felt like it was a great situation.” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith had only positive things to say about Howard. Smith remarked, “He's played in a lot of big games, and when I got a chance to meet with him and spend some time with him at his Pro Day, I just came away even more impressed at the person that Will Howard is.” Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had expressed his opinion of Howard on a previous episode of his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. He said, “I really like the kid Will Howard from Ohio State. I just think he’s a winner.” It would be interesting to see the duo of Roethlisberger and Howard together, especially because Roethlisberger has expressed interest in working with the team.
Steelers fans are happy about the team’s decision to draft Howard. Sports Journalist Justin David Kish posted on X, “I had Will Howard in the third round, still got the quarterback they have been needing.” A fan that goes by the username GuruTwoey posted, “Steelers got the Sleeper of the draft and this guy could save Tomlin's career.” Reddit user sw337 reacted, “Hell yeah! I wanted him in the third/fourth, but in the sixth works too.” Fellow Redditor KeyUnion5090 agreed, “I wanted him in round three. I’m so pumped. He will be first or second-best QB out of this draft.” Redditor Charming-Subject-54 reacted, “LOVE IT!! Bringing a CHAMPION aboard, plus he is a PA-grown guy.” Redditor MistaCreepz added, “As a sixth-round pick, this is a steal, nothing but upside.” Redditor pghcrew chimed in, “I couldn’t be happier.” Howard is the third quarterback on the current Steelers roster. Howard joins veteran Mason Rudolph and former Kansas State teammate Skylar Thompson.
