Will Howard has black stripe removed at Ohio State
Just because a player is on the Ohio State football roster and practicing with the team doesn’t make them a Buckeye. That’s something that is earned through effort and work ethic, and it extends to transfer quarterbacks like Will Howard.
The way a player shows that they’re a Buckeye is by getting the black stripe removed from their helmet to expose a scarlet stripe beneath it. That’s an honor that Will Howard recently earned, having his black stripe removed amid spring practice.
Ohio State posted a picture of Howard, alongside Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz, which shows Howard holding the black stripe that had recently been removed. Alongside it was a video of the black stripe alert.
“Aye man, first of all, I just want to thank God, man,” Will Howard says in the video. “Appreciate you guys taking me in here. I’m blessed to be a Buckeye. Shoutout to the Q’s, shoutout O-block. Go Bucks.”
Will Howard is transferring to Ohio State from Kansas State, where he played for four seasons and 34 total games. During that time, he had 5,786 passing yards and 48 touchdowns. He was also effective on the ground, with 921 yards and 19 touchdowns for his career. There is some expectation that he’ll be a veteran starter this season for Ohio State while younger quarterbacks develop for the future.
The black stripe tradition is far from the oldest in college sports, but it’s an important one to the Buckeyes. It started under Urban Meyer in 2012 when he put black stripes on the freshman class and made those players earn the right to remove the stripe. To earn that right, players needed to prove they were willing to put in the work and be a part of the program.
To this day, freshmen, walk-ons, and transfers need to earn the right to remove their black stripe.
Will Howard shares his feelings on Ohio State’s quarterback battle
Nothing is being given to Will Howard as he battles to become Ohio State’s starting quarterback, which he recently shared his feelings about.
“I feel good about it. I’m still just taking it day by day and I’m not trying to get ahead of myself and look at the end goal because the day in front of me is what’s most important. (Wednesday), it was throwing for Pro Day and getting ready for this and tomorrow it’s day four, so I’m just trying to get better every single day,” Howard said.
“The thing is, it’s never going to be perfect. Some of the routes that we run are a little different. The timing is a little different obviously getting used to the speed of the guys here. But I think I’m adjusting well, and I think I felt like in week one before spring break, it was like practice one, and I felt like I was kind of just feeling my way through it and then practice two I felt so much more comfortable. Every day, it’s just going to get more like that and I’m going to be able to just really start — rather than kind of just throwing the ball — really started ripping it because I really understand it.”