K-State seeing rapid improvement from Will Howard, thanks in part to Skylar Thompson
Will Howard looked like a freshman during his first start as Kansas State’s quarterback. The Wildcats are counting on him to play like a more experienced passer when he returns to the huddle on Saturday.
Those are the kind of raised expectations that follow a well-timed off week.
The schedule couldn’t have lined up much better for K-State football coach Chris Klieman as he works to speed up the development process with Howard, who was thrust into the starting role earlier this month when senior captain Skylar Thompson suffered a season-ending injury.
Howard came off the sideline and helped K-State hold off Texas Tech three weeks ago. Next, he did just enough things to right for the Wildcats to beat TCU in his first college start two weeks ago. Then he practiced like crazy without a game to prepare for last week. And now, with Thompson encouraging him along the way, Howard gets to put everything he has learned to the test against an overmatched Kansas Jayhawks team this weekend.
The Wildcats will be disappointed if he can’t improve on the numbers (16 of 32 for 314 yards, one touchdown, one interception) he has posted thus far.
“His control of the offense has improved a lot,” senior running back Harry Trotter said. “Will, coming in, was already a confident kid. You could tell he had a little bit of swagger to him. Just me being a senior, things I try to do are just help him with little things. Timing and pre-snap stuff and just trying to help him as much as I can. Skylar has done a great job helping him as well. I think he’s evolved a lot just over the bye week.”
Klieman geared K-State’s practice schedule around Howard last week. Rather than focus on the Jayhawks, or any other future opponent, the Wildcats spent all of their time trying to improve their craft.
That meant lots of fundamental work for the oldest players and plenty of reps for underclassmen still trying to adjust to college football. For Howard, specifically, it meant tons of snaps against ever-changing looks from K-State’s defense. The Wildcats want him to feel comfortable against any scheme moving forward.
“He came in very impressive from the jump,” senior tight end Briley Moore said, “but his IQ is getting a little bit better and a little more comfortable, commanding the offense and in the pocket. I’m excited to see how he continues to play because he’s a fun player. For the things he’s able to do at such a young age, it’s very impressive.”
No one is expecting Howard to match Thompson right away. Thankfully, Klieman said, Thompson has volunteered to help him
“He came back on Monday, and we had a really good conversation,” Klieman said. “He’s excited about helping the quarterbacks, and he was at practice (Monday) and it was good. I just know those guys need his help. He sees the field so well. He sees the game. It’s slowed down for him as he’s played. He’ll be a great help to those guys throughout the week and on game day.”
In some ways, that partnership will resemble the way former K-State quarterbacks Jesse Ertz and Alex Delton offered pointers to Thompson when he filled in for them as a redshirt freshman several years ago.
Thompson was understandably graded on a curve back then. Klieman will take a similar approach with Howard. He knows exactly how he will judge improvement.
“How calm he is and that he doesn’t get ahead of himself,” Klieman said. “That he’s relaxed but under control, seeing things and not guessing what he’s seeing, truly seeing them. I’ve had an opportunity to sit with the quarterbacks every morning when Coach (Collin) Klein is in meetings with Coach (Courtney) Messingham and the offensive staff just to pick their brain and pick my brain. It’s been good just to see how much knowledge those three guys have and continue to gain and know that they haven’t arrived. They have so much work to do, and this is a tough thing for a young player or inexperienced player to come in at quarterback. We have to do a great job as a coaching staff to make it manageable for them.”
It will be interesting to see how much progress Howard can make against KU.
In some ways, it is his final tuneup before K-State embarks on a difficult closing stretch of games against West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas.