Midway through December, when it seemed likely that USC was going to sign Will Howard, a lot of Trojan fans wondered if this was really the best Lincoln Riley could do. After having Caleb Williams at the quarterback spot for two seasons, Will Howard was undeniably going to represent a notable downgrade. Couldn’t USC have gotten a Cadillac quarterback with superstar potential? Howard isn’t that kind of quarterback.
Howard is good. He is probably underrated. Keep in mind that he filled in for injured Kansas State quarterbacks earlier in his career. Those emergency, fill-in games were rough for him. His aggregate numbers at KSU aren’t great because he played a lot of games in which he was thrown into the fire without much choice or preparation. He is better than what the numbers show.
Again, though: He’s not Caleb. He’s not Michael Penix. He’s not Dillon Gabriel, Oregon’s new transfer from Oklahoma.
USC having Will Howard wasn’t necessarily a disaster — again, Howard is underrated and can be really good — but it would have put a lot of pressure on Lincoln Riley to prove that he could win with a less-than-elite quarterback. Riley has coached Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, and Caleb Williams, all elite college quarterbacks. Will Howard does not belong in that conversation. Riley was going to have to be better with Howard, better than he normally is.
Now, with Howard choosing Ohio State after Miller Moss’s amazing Holiday Bowl performance, the pressure which was going to sit on Riley’s shoulders will instead fall on Ryan Day’s shoulders with the Buckeyes.
“After the Cotton Bowl disaster, which saw both Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz struggle, head coach Ryan Day dipped into the portal for a veteran at the position. It makes plenty of sense to bring in a quarterback who threw for 2,643 yards while completing 61.3% of his attempts this past season.”
Ohio State became very thin at the quarterback spot once Kyle McCord transferred to Syracuse. OSU fans probably think what USC fans were thinking when Howard was being considered by Lincoln Riley: “Can’t we do better than this?” It’s going to be a heavy lift for Ryan Day to get the most out of Will Howard.
It’s not USC’s problem.
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