After spending the past four seasons at Kansas State, someone asked Will Howard this week to explain the biggest change he has encountered now that he is playing quarterback for Ohio State.
His response raised eyebrows in K-State circles.
“The one thing I would say is that I don’t feel like I have to be a hero here,” Howard told reporters in Ohio. “And I feel like I have the guys around me to where I just need to facilitate and just get them the ball and make good decisions. And at the end of the day, I don’t have to go out there and do anything superhuman, you know. I just have to be myself and trust the guys around me.”
His answer was interesting for two reasons.
For starters, nobody from head coach Chris Klieman on down ever asked Howard to try and play like Superman when he was QB1 with the Wildcats. When Howard led K-State to a Big 12 championship as a junior, he was the epitome of a distributor as he handed the ball off to Deuce Vaughn and threw touchdowns to Ben Sinnott.
Secondly, new K-State quarterback Avery Johnson shared an eerily similar answer when he was asked to describe what it has been like for him leading the Wildcats early on in training camp.
“We’ve looked really explosive at times,” Johnson said. “We’ve just been trying to get the ball to our playmakers. We have a lot of playmakers and a lot of people that can do special things with the ball in their hands. So it’s just my job to get it to them and let them go out there and do their thing.”
That answer will no doubt excite K-State fans, because Johnson has the skill set to be a hero on the football field. Few plays should ever be considered dead with his speed and scrambling ability.
The fact Johnson feels he has a strong supporting cast should help as he transitions to life as a first-time starting quarterback in the Big 12, even though he hasn’t experienced any growing pains yet.
“He has stepped up tremendously,” K-State receiver Keagan Johnson said. “The way he has commanded our group, even off the field, to just meet more and work more (has been great). You can see that carrying over to camp, just the way he’s leading us. I think Avery would tell you that he still has more ways to go, but I think the trajectory he is on is a good trajectory.”
Avery Johnson built a strong connection with wide receiver Jayce Brown last season, and he is beginning to team up with Keagan Johnson for big plays in practice. Now that he is healthy, Klieman has described Keagan Johnson as one of the best receivers in the Big 12. Avery Johnson agrees, saying that he throws to him every time he faces one-on-one man coverage.
But the QB doesn’t stop there. He is complimentary of the entire K-State receiving corps.
“We have a lot of guys that haven’t really got the opportunity to show what they can do in a live game on the field yet,” Avery Johnson said, “but don’t be surprised if they do have a breakout season.”
We have yet to mention anything about DJ Giddens and Dylan Edwards in the backfield. Few things make life easier for a quarterback than a pair of dynamic running backs.
Right now, they all seem like touchdown threats with Johnson getting them the ball.
