#18

Will Howard

Former quarterback at Ohio State. 2024: 4,010 passing yards, 35 TD, 10 INT.

QB · Ohio State · Sr. · #18

6′4″ · 237 lb · Downingtown, PA

CFB Index 94 · #2 of 137 QBsHigh confidenceAll-ConferencePittsburgh — drafted 2025, Rd 6, Pick 9, #185 overall

Recruiting

3★

PRO recruit

No. 882 nationally · Signed with Downingtown West

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former quarterback at Ohio State. 2024: 4,010 passing yards, 35 TD, 10 INT.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Downingtown West in 2020.
Transferred from Kansas State to Ohio State in 2024.
Drafted round 6 by the Pittsburgh in 2025.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Ohio State, 9,796 passing yards — drafted at #185 overall by Pittsburgh.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 294 yds at West Virginia.West Virginia · W 48-312022

20209 games

Recruited3-star out of Downingtown West

202312 games

All-Big 12second

202416 games

Entered the portal
All-Big Tenthird

2025

Drafted by Pittsburghround 6, pick 185

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#882 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2020–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

R6 · #185

Pittsburgh · 2025

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

4 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-BIG TEN

All-Big Ten mention (2024)

Coaching lineage · 2020–2024

1 coach

2020–2024

Ryan Day

Ohio State

Played his entire career under Ryan Day.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

PittsburghEntering 2nd NFL season

#185Rd 6 · Pick 9

PittsburghEntering 2nd NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2020Kansas State4-6HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2021Kansas State8-5HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2022Kansas State10-4HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning

2023Kansas State9-4HC: Chris Klieman · Run-leaning

2024Ohio State14-2HC: Ryan Day · Run-leaning, slow tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

94All-America level #2 of 137?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: success rate (99th percentile). Strength: epa / dropback (97th percentile). Concern: interceptions (25th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Success rate#2 / 169 · 99th pct

52.9%

EPA / dropback#6 / 169 · 97th pct

0.50

Sack rate#27 / 169 · 84th pct

3.3%

Explosive rate#34 / 169 · 80th pct

12.4%

Interception rate#90 / 169 · 47th pct

2.2%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#4 / 165 · 98th pct

Completion %#4 / 165 · 98th pct

73.0%

Pass yards#6 / 165 · 97th pct

4010

Yards / att#7 / 165 · 95th pct

9.5

Rush TDs#19 / 165 · 85th pct

Fumbles lost#21 / 159 · 73rd pct

Rush yards#64 / 165 · 62nd pct

226

Interceptions#118 / 165 · 25th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

61st → 97th percentile

Success rate

72nd → 99th percentile

Explosive rate

57th → 80th percentile

Sack rate

76th → 84th percentile

Interception rate

12th → 47th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

294/410 (71.7%) · 35 TD · 10 INT

410 of 423 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

9.626 of 205 QBs

Sack rate

3.2%35 of 205 QBs

Rarely sacked (35 of 205 QBs) and still 6 of 205 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

53%of completions

155 comp4.9 yds avg7 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

30%of completions

88 comp14.0 yds avg7 TD

Deep

20+ yds

17%of completions

51 comp32.6 yds avg13 TD

Overall 71.7% completion on 410 attempts · 51 deep completions averaging 32.6 yds.

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2024 baseline

No situation moves him more than 39 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-37 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 5/168 (3.0%) · league sack rate 4.9% · ~our read

Down 2

+17 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 3/120 (2.5%) · league sack rate 4.9% · ~our read

Down 3+

+39 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 6/105 (5.7%) · league sack rate 8.1% · ~our read

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 16 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home9g	241	2.3	9.9	0.8
Road7g	263	2.0	9.6	0.4

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-710g	272	2.2	10.2	0.5
Weeks 8+6g	214	2.2	9.1	0.8

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Ryan Day

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

our read the All-Conference honor is earned — and the box score backs it up emphatically: #2 of 137 FBS quarterbacks by CFB Index Score.2024 profile

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

94 · #2 of 137 QBs

Three-star recruit. Now #2 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Ohio State	309	423	73.0%	4,010	9.5	35	10	175.3	97	--	--
2023	Kansas State	219	358	61.2%	2,643	7.4	24	10	139.7	50	--	--
2022	Kansas State	119	198	60.1%	1,633	8.2	15	4	150.3	71	--	--
2021	Kansas State	30	55	54.5%	332	6.0	1	1	107.6	47	--	--
2020	Kansas State	90	168	53.6%	1,178	7.0	8	10	116.3	52	--	--
Career		767	1,202	63.8%	9,796	8.1	83	35	149.2	69	--	--

Season	Team
2024	Ohio State	105	226	2.2	7	--
2023	Kansas State	80	364	4.5	9	--
2022	Kansas State	35	22	0.6	3	--
2021	Kansas State	32	184	5.8	4	--
2020	Kansas State	78	364	4.7	3	--
Career		330	1,160	3.5	26	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2024

W 41–21

at Oregon

319 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 97.7 · -3 rush yds (5 car)

With J. McGuire — 40 AVG · 47 LONG · 5 NO · J. Smith — 5 rush yds (1 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 10 · Penn State · 3&5 · Q1 · EPA -7.26Will Howard pass intercepted Zion Tracy return for 31 yds for a TD
Week 2 · Western Michigan · 1&20 · Q1 · EPA +6.70Will Howard pass complete to Jeremiah Smith for 70 yds for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 4 · Marshall · 2&8 · Q1 · EPA +6.24W.Howard pass complete. Catch made by E.Egbuka for 68 yards. TOUCHDOWN.
Week 1 · Texas · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +6.08TreVeyon Henderson 75 Yd pass from Will Howard (Jayden Fielding Kick)
Week 5 · Michigan State · 4&5 · Q3 · EPA +4.81Will Howard pass complete to Emeka Egbuka for 33 yds for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 9 · Nebraska · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +4.76Will Howard pass complete to Jeremiah Smith for 60 yds for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 12 · Northwestern · 3&5 · Q3 · EPA +4.53Will Howard pass complete to Jeremiah Smith for 68 yds to the NU 17 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Oregon · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.47Will Howard pass complete to Jeremiah Smith for 45 yds for a TD
Week 1 · Notre Dame · 3&11 · Q4 · EPA +4.43Will Howard pass complete to Jeremiah Smith for 56 yds to the ND 10 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Iowa · 3&6 · Q3 · EPA +4.41W.Howard pass complete. Catch made by J.Smith for 53 yards. Tackled by Q.Schulte at IOW 4.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 16 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 52-6vs Akron	17/28	228	3	0	8.1	70.2	3 TD passes
Wk 2	W 56-0vs Western Michigan	18/26	292	1	0	11.2	89.3
Wk 4	W 49-14vs Marshall	16/20	275	2	1	13.8	98.0
Wk 5	W 38-7@ Michigan State	21/31	244	2	1	7.9	79.8
Wk 6	W 35-7vs Iowa	21/25	209	4	1	8.4	84.3	4 TD passes
Wk 7	L 31-32@ Oregon	28/35	326	2	0	9.3	93.4	Season-high 326 yds
Wk 9	W 21-17vs Nebraska	13/16	221	3	1	13.8	73.9	3 TD passes
Wk 10	W 20-13@ Penn State	16/24	182	2	1	7.6	69.9
Wk 11	W 45-0vs Purdue	21/26	260	3	0	10.0	76.3	3 TD passes
Wk 12	W 31-7@ Northwestern	15/24	247	2	0	10.3	95.9
Wk 13	W 38-15vs Indiana	22/26	201	2	1	7.7	86.8
Wk 14	L 10-13vs Michigan	19/33	175	1	2	5.3	56.8
Bowl	W 42-17vs Tennessee	24/29	311	2	1	10.7	98.7
Bowl	W 41-21@ Oregon	17/26	319	3	0	12.3	97.7
Bowl	W 28-14@ Texas	24/33	289	1	1	8.8	90.0
Bowl	W 34-23@ Notre Dame	17/21	231	2	0	11.0	99.1
Total		309/423	4010	35	10	9.8	85.0

How he plays

Play style

Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

58.3%Completion %

23.1%Conversion/dropback

57.1%Land short of sticks

2INTs

58.3% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 23.1% conversion-per-dropback — 57.1% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

15/173rd/4th & short

12/31Inside-5 share

15 of 17 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (88.2%). 12 of the team's 31 inside-the-5 carries (38.7%).