Will Howard deserves to be in the Heisman Trophy conversation

His chances of being invited to New York are slim, but Will Howard’s season has been no less impressive.

Will Howard has not put up the type of numbers that are necessary to win the Heisman Trophy in this era of college football. The Ohio State quarterback has thrown for 2,685 yards this season, which is incredibly solid, but puts him at 23rd nationally. He has thrown for 26 touchdowns through 11 games, which is impressive, but puts him at seventh nationally; he also has seven rushing touchdowns on the year. In recent memory, the award has morphed from honoring the best player in college football — as its mission statement says — to rewarding the most gaudy stats from a quarterback on a championship-contending team.

However, this year is different. While Miami quarterback Cameron Ward’s 3,774 yards and 34 touchdowns (second and first nationally, respectively) have him in the conversation for the sport’s most prestigious award, the other names in the mix are not your traditional Heisman hopefuls.

One of the two presumed frontrunners is not only a running back but a running back from a Group of 5 school. The last RB to win the Heisman was Derrick Henry in 2015 and the last non-power conference or major independent player to win was BYU quarterback Ty Detmer in 1990. Despite history not being in his favor, Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is attempting to run away from the competition. With an astounding 2,062, Jeanty has 570 more yards than the second-place rusher in the country. Despite how impressive those numbers are, it’s still rare to see a running back in the poll position for the Heisman.

The other leading Heisman Trophy contender is also not a quarterback. Travis Hunter plays on both sides of the ball for Colorado. He has 1,036 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season as a wide receiver and 31 tackles and three interceptions as a cornerback. Despite missing some time early in the season, Hunter has been on the field for 1,322 snaps playing at a high level, and that is remarkable and worthy of celebration.

So, with those two outside-the-box Heisman candidates, why can’t we expand the expectations for quarterback contenders? While Howard might not have the gaudy counting number stats that often garner Heisman consideration, his stats are nonetheless impressive. The Buckeye QB has completed 74% of his passes on the season, the highest percentage in the country. Against Indiana yesterday, Howard was 22-for-26 (85%), which marked his sixth time completing 80% of his passes or more. That sets not only a new Ohio State program single-season record but a Buckeye career record as well… Will Howard has played 11 games for Ohio State.

Tangential to the completions, Howard’s quarterback rating stands at 180.54, which is second nationally, and his 9.6 yards per attempt are third in FBS. Again, these are more than serviceable numbers — in fact, they are very good — but they are not the only reason that I think Howard deserves an extra look when it comes to Heisman voting.

Ohio State has played three games against top-five opponents this season — at Oregon, at Penn State, and yesterday against Indiana — and I think that he has had arguably his three best games against those top-rated opponents. While the game in Happy Valley might not live up to the same level as Eugene last month and The Shoe yesterday, overall, he has been exceptional when it mattered the most.

In those games, Howard was 66-for-85 (77.7%) for 709 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions, he also added a pair of rushing touchdowns. So, against top-five opponents, Howard’s stats would put him at No. 1 nationally in completion percentage and 18th in FBS in terms of yards per attempt (8.34) and yards per game (268.3); and that’s up against full season resumes for QBs who have schedules loaded with cupcakes.

I can admit that Howard does not have the deep-ball arm strength or accuracy of other recent vintage OSU quarterbacks, but anything shorter than 25 yards, he is near perfect. In fact, on throws of less than 20, Howard is 190-for-238 (79.8%) and those passes have left to 2,095 yards and 22 touchdowns. And, in fairness, he’s not awful downfield; on the season, Howard is 17-for-33 (51.5%) for 583 yards and 4 TDs.

While all of those stats are impressive, the thing that I believe separates Howard from the rest of college football’s quarterbacks is his leadership. to be quite frank, this team felt rudderless last season, in search of someone to steer the ship. Quite frankly, it felt like even the coaches were unsure of the best way to guide the team. Coming off of a run of Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and C.J. Stroud — all of whom were the question heartbeats of their teams — Ohio State lacked a leader to rally around in 2023, the same cannot be said of 2024.

Following last week’s injury to Seth McLaughlin, head coach Ryan Day has said that it was Howard who rallied and refocused the team ahead of the top-five matchup against Indiana. For only being a Buckeye for roughly 11 months, OSU’s QB1 has naturally slipped into the role of being his teammate’s biggest cheerleader and supporter.

There is no greater evidence of that than in his postgame comments when asked about playing in his first installment of The Game this coming Saturday.

While Heisman voters obviously are not going to be swayed by a player’s level of devotion to his teammates, I do think that Howard’s degree of determination could lead to a #HeismanMoment or two in Ohio Stadium against That Team Up North. The Heisman ballots are distributed on the Monday after the regular season finale, so Howard has the opportunity to leave a significant impression on the voters to go with his impressively efficient numbers.

Voting will be open for one week, culminating on the Monday following conference championship weekend. So, if the veteran quarterback can lead the Buckeyes to their first Big Ten title since 2019 while avenging their only loss of the season, not only will they undoubtedly secure the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, but Howard will absolutely have a resume as worthy of being a Heisman finalist as anyone else in the country.

His candidacy is likely starting too late in the season to allow him actually win the prize, but it is growing increasingly difficult to tell the story of the 2024-25 college football season without Will Howard being an essential part of the tale, and for that, he deserves to be in New York as a Heisman finalist Saturday, Dec. 14.