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Former Ohio State quarterback Will Howard says he wasn’t going to stick around Kansas State when his backup was making more NIL money than he was. Howard left the Wildcats after the 2023 season as one of college football’s top portal transfers, even though he was set to be the starter coming off a Big 12 championship run.
The reason? Freshman Avery Johnson had a better NIL deal.
Howard signed a one-year deal with Ohio State worth seven figures. It included housing and a car, which was way more than what he got at Kansas State. That decision paid off when he helped lead the Buckeyes to a national title.
“Everything I did (for NIL) was on my own,” Howard told The Athletic. “They kind of took advantage of me and got me for cheap, so I decided to go somewhere else and make a little money.”
“It’s different when you go to a school, and you’re the guy getting money,” Howard said. “It’s amazing how different you’re treated. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Here’s the crazy part. Howard’s now in his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made more at Ohio State than he did as an NFL rookie. His four-year deal with Pittsburgh is worth $4.45 million. When he was shopping around after leaving Kansas State, he said $500,000 was his starting point.
Ohio State AD Ross Bjork made headlines when he talked about the record-setting NIL payouts that brought in Howard and other transfers that year. Howard was one of the big names in that haul.
Johnson Was Always the Future
Kansas State fans could see this coming. The Wildcats signed Johnson in 2023 as the biggest in-state recruit of the Chris Klieman era. He was a four-star prospect ranked in the top 100 nationally.
Johnson brought something different to the table. While Howard could move when he needed to, Johnson was a true dual-threat quarterback.
Collin Klein was Kansas State’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator back then; he recruited Johnson and started getting him reps as a freshman. By the end of that season, it was pretty obvious Johnson was going to take over. After Howard transferred, Johnson threw for three touchdowns in his first career start during Kansas State’s bowl win over NC State.
“There were a lot of politics the last year (at Kansas State),” Howard told The Athletic. “There were games I was splitting time with him for no reason that I knew other than there was money going to him that wasn’t going to me.”
Howard finished 12-5 over 17 starts in Manhattan before his career year at Ohio State. He threw for 4,010 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2024, both career highs, while leading the Buckeyes to that national championship.
Johnson’s done pretty well himself. He’s 15-10 as Kansas State’s starter since that bowl game, with 43 touchdown passes and 15 rushing scores over the last two years. He’ll be a senior in 2026 and just got his old position coach back as head coach when Klein returned to Manhattan.
“There is unfinished business here and I’m not done yet,” Johnson wrote on Instagram in January, announcing he’d be back. “This place, this program and this fan base mean everything to me.”
Klein spent two seasons calling plays at Texas A&M before coming back to Kansas State. This spring, he said things are “progressing well” with Johnson as they work to get back on the same page.
“I think it’s come back to him pretty quickly,” Klein told Yahoo Sports. “But more important than any other position, it’s important that we are thinking exactly the same way as play caller and quarterback. Gray is not a good thing in that relationship. So we are trying to make sure, and he’s been very great and detailed and thorough, of not taking anything for granted.”
Kansas State was one of nine Power Four programs that didn’t hold a spring game this year.
