Ohio State coach Ryan Day names Will Howard as the team's starting quarterback

Ohio State has its starting quarterback.

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said Thursday that Kansas State transfer Will Howard has won the quarterback competition and will start the season opener Aug. 31 against Akron.

Since early in training camp, it seemed just a matter of time before Howard would be named the starter. The fifth-year senior took most of the reps with the starters in practices open to reporters and looked in command of the offense.

"(Offensive coordinator) Chip (Kelly) has done a great job of rolling the quarterbacks from the first day of spring all the way to now, so you're talking about 27-28 practices," Day said. "When you take the aggregate of all the numbers, Will graded out significantly ahead of the other guys."

Howard had been shaky during the spring, but since then he has reshaped his body by losing 15 pounds and tweaked his throwing mechanics.

"Will has really taken command of the offense," Day said. "You feel him in the huddle. You feel his experience. He did a really good job, as we've talked about, of changing his body in the offseason. He's become a threat, both with his legs and with his arm. The more he understands what he's doing out there, he's executing very well. I think the guys are excited when he gets in the huddle."

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Devin Brown, who’s in his third year in the OSU system, had a strong spring and looked like he might pose a serious challenge to Howard in training camp. Instead, Howard asserted himself, earning praise from teammates and coaches.

Day said Brown is the top backup for now, but that competition will continue. The Buckeyes have another scrimmage on Saturday. Day said he and other coaches told the quarterbacks in a meeting Thursday morning that Howard had won the job.

"Devin has shown the ability to do just about everything we've asked him to do," he said. "It's the consistency part and the taking care of the football part that he's got to do a great job of moving forward."

“Both guys are getting reps with the 1s. But I will say that Will really has taken some strides in the last couple of practices, making plays on third down again. He hasn't won the job, but we have seen positive play there."

Day said then that he wanted to wait until an intrasquad scrimmage last Saturday before making his decision.

Obviously, he and Kelly saw enough.

"He's worked extremely hard in the offseason," Kelly said. "From the end of spring ball on April 13 to now, he's made great strides. We gave him a plan over the summer to work on, and he took it and ran with it. Where he is now is pretty impressive."

Day said Ohio State's stout defense had gotten the better of the offense in the first several practices of training camp, but the offense had more success in Saturday's scrimmage. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has been impressed with Howard.

"He's making all the throws," Knowles said. "He's got great vision and arm strength. We've got great receivers, and he's putting the ball in places where only the receiver can catch it. It's not just the arm strength. He's making the pinpoint passes."