How good was Will Howard’s Ohio State debut? What I saw from the QB against Akron

Freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith stole the show in Ohio State’s 52-6 win against Akron on Saturday, but it wasn’t the Buckeyes’ only highly anticipated debut. There was the 8-yard designed run in the first quarter, a quarterback sneak that we haven’t seen from one of Day’s teams in years and then this scramble when everything was covered downfield: I like that Howard doesn’t bail on plays early and use his legs as a crutch instead of trusting his arm, but there are times when a quarterback just has to take the yards like he did here. In an ideal world, you’d like to see Howard get at least two or three of these a game to force defenses to put a spy on him, taking one more person out of coverage. This completion to Smith was the highlight catch of the day, as the freshman made a one-handed catch through the defender: I do think this could’ve been a better pass — and a touchdown — if Howard got more on this ball, letting Smith just run under it into the end zone. The senior defensive end didn’t record a sack, even though the Buckeyes had five, but he led the team with four pressures, per TruMedia, including this one off an impressive spin move: Ohio State’s defensive line as a whole was great, despite Akron trying to get the ball out quickly.