Grading Will Howard in his first start for Ohio State football

The Ohio State football team was almost 50-point favorites at home against the Akron Zips in its first action of the 2024 season. The Buckeyes came out on top in the end, but they took just a 7-3 lead into the second quarter and even were down 3-0 after both teams had a drive.

Numerous Ohio State players got their first start both at Ohio Stadium and in the scarlet and gray. Quarterback Will Howard was among them. Howard, who transferred to Ohio State from Kansas State, got awarded the starting job over Devin Brown and ended the game with 228 yards and 3 touchdowns, having completed 17-of-28 passes.

Ryan Day was asked how he felt Howard did after the game and didn’t give a great response, mentioning that he will need to review the film before giving a definitive answer.

While Day might have been joking, Howard — nonetheless, — could’ve played better and certainly could’ve gotten out of the gate faster. The Buckeyes second drive ended with Jeremiah Smith’s first touchdown of his career on a 15-yard pass from Howard, but the first drive of the season featured two incompletions.

Howard did pick it up, but he had at least two incompletions on the team’s first four drives. He eventually started to pick the lacking Akron defense apart, but those early-game issues are not something to be overlooked. At the end of the day, Howard ended with three scores and connected on more than 60% of his attempts.

Will Howard’s stats in his Buckeye debut:

– 17/28
– 228 yards
– 3 touchdowns
– 18 rush yards
– 0 turnovers

Good start for QB1 🌰. pic.twitter.com/iKF7M4I787

— The Scarlet and Gray Podcast (@TheSG_Podcast) August 31, 2024

When looking at the entire game as a whole, what grade should Howard receive? It was far from an “A” performance, but it also wasn’t necessarily a “C.”

Grade: B-

Howard could’ve shown more, but he gave enough for an easy 52-6 route of Akron. Day will need to see that consistency continue against Western Michigan…