In scarlet instead of purple, Will Howard is a 'much better athlete than people give him credit for'

AUSTIN (KXAN) — In the Big 12 Conference, Texas faced Will Howard several times while the quarterback for the Kansas State Wildcats. Howard is now calling signals for the Ohio State Buckeyes, the betting favorite over the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff semifinals Friday at AT&T Stadium.

It's something that didn't used to be common, but in the transfer portal era where players are free to move around without penalty, seeing a foe in different colors from one year to the next is just how things work.

While with the Wildcats, Howard played the Longhorns three times. While effective in different ways each time, he never beat Texas. The Longhorns pummeled K-State 69-31 in 2020, Howard's freshman season, while edging them 22-17 in 2021 and 33-30 in an overtime thriller last season. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian saw Howard's skill up close in 2021 and 2023, and he thinks Howard doesn't get the respect he deserves.

"He's a much better athlete than people give him credit for," Sarkisian said. "He's got great poise and composure in the pocket, and you can tell he's very bright. He's got intention and athletic ability and throws a catchable ball. He throws them where he needs to and he has the guys to make plays for him."

Sarkisian pointed to Howard's 71-yard touchdown run against the Longhorns in 2021 as the play he remembers most. After not playing against Texas in 2022, Howard threw four touchdowns and 327 yards in 2023 only to have the Longhorns beat him again on a Bert Auburn 42-yard field goal. Three of his four passing scores came late in the game, one as time expired in the third quarter and two in the fourth to get the Wildcats back in the game.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said Howard has grown into the Buckeyes' offense, and after his terrific game against Oregon with 319 yards and three touchdowns, Howard just keeps getting better.

Day compared Howard's progression to that of an NFL free agent.

"The more he plays at Ohio State in this offense with his teammates, he's getting more and more comfortable with everything," Day said. "You see guys who move from NFL team to NFL team, and sometimes it takes a while to get into the offense and understand it. It's like a language. When you can understand it, like second nature, that's when you can play your best football."

Ohio State has perhaps the most talented roster surrounding Howard with a stable of tailbacks plus star wideouts in Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith. Even with the best pass defense in the country and the Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron, plus All-American defensive back Michael Taaffe, Sarkisian said the Longhorns will "have a hard time guarding them."

"They're both big, physical players that have length, speed and playmaking ability," Sarkisian said. "They have a really big catch radius and they have the scheme to go with it. These guys are impactful players that are real issues."

In the 41-21 win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Smith caught seven passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns while Egbuka had 5 catches for 72 yards with a 42-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

Texas' running game could never get going against Arizona State in the Peach Bowl primarily because the offense wasn't on the field as much as it typically is. The Longhorns needed two plays to score on their opening drive and then Silas Bolden returned a punt 75 yards for a score before the Sun Devils and Cam Skattebo possessed the ball for several long drives. There was also a safety on the first play of a third-quarter drive, so that sent the defense back on the field.

Sarkisian has repeatedly said his teams are best when they run the ball to set up the play-action pass and have a balanced attack. His team couldn't do that against the Sun Devils because the defense was on the field so much.

"We didn't get a whole lot of reps to find the rhythm of it, so everybody's kind of got to take some responsibility for that," Sarkisian said. "We're at our best when we can run it, and that gives us balance. And so I'm hard-pressed not to kind of just walk away from it and abandon it."