Will Howard, former Kansas State quarterback, has officially moved on from his college football days and is now focused on his professional career after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers last month. However, he still finds himself discussing his decision to leave K-State for Ohio State.
In a recent conversation with Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger, Howard opened up about the factors behind his transfer.
“We had a young guy, Avery Johnson, who had a lot of talent,” Howard explained. “He was getting significant NIL money while I wasn’t receiving any. It became clear that the program was leaning in his direction. Kansas State has a long tradition of mobile quarterbacks like Michael Bishop and Ell Roberson, and Avery fits that mold—he’s incredibly fast, clocking in at 22 miles per hour.”
Instead of returning for a fifth season in Manhattan, Howard opted to transfer to Ohio State, a decision that paid off—he led the Buckeyes to a national championship and boosted his draft stock in the process.
“I had spent several years at K-State and gotten a lot out of it,” Howard said. “But I felt that returning for a fifth year there wouldn’t help me grow any further. I believed I had reached my ceiling with the program, and if I was going to play another year of college football, it needed to be somewhere new.”
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