Will Howard’s growth and commitment to play-action open up Ohio State’s offense

Much like they did at the conclusion of spring practice, Ohio State coaches gave quarterback Will Howard a list of things to address during a bye week following season-opening wins over Akron and Western Michigan. In April, the areas of improvement included the need for Howard to gain a deeper understanding of the offense, solidify his mechanics, adjust his body composition and maximize every pound and inch of his 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame. While still specific to Howard, a transfer from Kansas State, they were the kinds of requests commonly made of most quarterbacks joining new programs.

This time, though, the requests from new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly — who said the Buckeyes’ coaching staff graded every player during the bye week — were far more complex. They addressed issues such as Howard’s demeanor during play-action fakes, his foundational footwork for certain play families, his recognition of pre-snap indicators to discern coverages long before the ball is snapped. In other words, Howard had made it through Ohio State’s Quarterback Play 101 course and progressed to graduate-level work in time for Saturday’s matchup with Marshall (noon Eastern on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

“Will continues to grow every day,” Kelly said at a news conference earlier this week. “That’s something I love about him. He’s a lifelong learner. He comes in here every day really wanting to know how I can get a little bit better every day. And I think last week he improved from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in practice.”

He also made significant improvements between his first and second outings in an Ohio State uniform to help quell any doubts that might have arisen for a fan base still turned off by last year’s uneven quarterback play from Kyle McCord, who subsequently transferred to Syracuse and is enjoying a tremendous start to the season by completing 59 of 85 passes (69.4%) for 735 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception in two games.

Howard overcame a rough start against Akron in which he missed 10 of his first 16 passes and led just two touchdown drives on the Buckeyes’ first six possessions to enjoy a blistering start against Western Michigan last weekend. He completed 10 consecutive passes to open the game, including a 70-yard touchdown to freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, a budding star at wide receiver, and led Ohio State into the end zone on five of its first six drives in an eventual 56-0 rout. By game’s end, Howard had completed 18 of 26 passes (69.2%) for 292 yards, two total touchdowns, no interceptions and an NFL passer rating of 119.4, according to Pro Football Focus. Howard’s season-long passer rating of 120.9 is more than 30 points higher than his career average.

“I actually have classes at night this semester,” Howard said at a news conference earlier this week. “And don’t tell my professors, but sometimes I watch a little movie in class. I like to watch movie every day, whatever it is, I like to wake up and watch a little bit of something. I love football and I love chess. I love the strategy that goes into it. And I think that’s a fun part of it, being able to go out and have something planned for your opponent that they’re not prepared for, or see something before it happens is really fun.”

And there may be no better chess master for Howard to learn from than Kelly, whose influence on Ohio State’s offense during the season’s opening weeks appears far more significant than most outsiders expected when head coach Ryan Day ceded play-calling duties to his mentor and close friend. Kelly’s extensive and consistent commitment to creative pre-snap moves has introduced new details that opposing defenders must process in real time. And when combined with Kelly’s wide array of fakes and run-pass options (RPOs) that invoke a quarterback’s skill with sleight of hand, the number of potential outcomes on any given play starts to feel somewhat voluminous: from a traditional handoff to the running back to an RPO in which Howard, who rushed for more than 900 yards in four seasons at Kansas State, pulls the ball off the running back’s belly and carries it himself; from a play-action pass originating in the pocket to a sprint that slips the protection and reduces the part of the field Howard is tasked with reading.

Play-action passes have proven lethal for Ohio State so far, with Howard completing 19 of 25 of those attempts for 321 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, according to Pro Football Focus. Play-action passes account for 46.4% of Howard’s passes through the first two weeks — a big increase from the 28.9% mark he posted with the Wildcats last year — and his 87.5% adjusted completion percentage — which doesn’t penalize quarterbacks for dropped balls — ranks fourth nationally among quarterbacks with at least 25 such attempts. Smith, who was a five-star prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit for the 2024 cycle, leads the team with 11 receptions for 211 yards and three touchdowns. The fact that he’s averaging more than 19 yards per reception speaks as much to the vertical element of Ohio State’s offense as it does to Smith’s ability to generate yards after the catch (73 in the first two games).

“As long as I can keep us on schedule and not force things,” Howard said, “make the right decisions with the ball, with the guys we have, let them do the rest. We’ve been blocking really well. I think the running backs have been doing a good job and the receivers are obviously going to get open. So for me, it’s just about taking advantage of what the defense gives me and not trying to do too much and make the perfect play, but just doing things right.”

And as Howard noted, the effectiveness of Ohio State’s passing game can be directly tied to a rushing attack that ranks 18th nationally at 6.2 yards per carry behind the one-two punch of running backs Quinshon Judkins (22 carries, 163 yards, 3 TDs) and TreVeyon Henderson (18 carries, 131 yards, 2 TDs), who are forcing defenses to respect play-action fakes. Rookie running back James Peoples, a former four-star recruit out of Texas, has contributed 81 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries as the Buckeyes’ third-string back.

Ohio State’s average of 36 rushing attempts through the first two weeks is up slightly from last year (33.2) when Day was the play-caller. The Buckeyes are tied for first nationally in power success rate, a metric that measures how often short-yardage runs convert a first down or score a touchdown, and rank third in offensive block rate, which measures the percentage of runs stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. All of which makes life a lot easier for Howard.

“I think it all starts with the runs,” Day said at a news conference earlier this week. “When you’re running the ball, you now have to be more aggressive (as a defense), the safeties have to get down low, you have to put an extra player in the box, which opens things up on the field. But I think the work we’ve done in timing some of those concepts — the protection has been strong as I said — but it’s about timing those things and combining the run game with the play-action pass, as they go hand-in-hand. And then there’s the RPOs, which are similar to that as well.

“But you always look to complement runs with some type of trick pass to put people in conflict. Chip has always done that, and we’ve always done it here. On almost every play, you want to put someone in conflict.”

On Saturday, Marshall will be the party in conflict.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports, with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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