Will Howard is, by almost all accounts, normal.

A senior accounting major, Howard is 23 years old and faces a future that could just as easily include performing tax services or consulting at a Big 4 firm as making it big as a quarterback in the National Football League.

A 3-star recruit out of high school, Howard is not a phenom or generational athlete in that he hasn’t outwardly exhibited any particular superpowers on the football field. Howard is no Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward, and even at this rarefied air continues to be overlooked and marginalized.

Howard also isn’t CJ Stroud or Justin Fields, who are already playing on Sundays where Howard wants to be – but he is 60 minutes away from doing something those pros couldn’t do.

Win a national championship as the quarterback at Ohio State. Which makes Howard a potential superstar hiding in plain sight.

Howard and the Buckeyes face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday night it Atlanta, an opportunity and venue the former Downingtown (Pa.) West High School Whippet probably only dreamed of in 2020. The Buckeyes are favored by 8.5 points, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

Five years ago, Howard wasn’t even a blip on Ohio State’s radar. Heck, he was barely on any Power 5 radar. He was the No. 33-rated pro-style QB in an underwhelming 20202 QB class headlined by … DJ Uiagalelei. (The recruitniks had Stroud at No. 2, by the way.) Howard considered offers from Maryland, Minnesota, Rutgers and Kansas before settling on Kansas State for his collegiate career. While in Manhattan, Howard only occasionally found the field his first 2 seasons and – after being beaten out for the starting spot by transfer Adrian Martinez in 2022 – considered transferring.

But Martinez got hurt, and Howard shined for a couple games in his stead. And after Martinez’s injury was revealed as more serious, the gig was Howard’s for good. He passed for 1,633 yards in 2022 and threw for 2,643 yards and 24 touchdowns in leading the Wildcats to an 8-4 record in 2023. That output landed Howard an invitation to the Senior Bowl and dangled the possibility of the NFL in his face – but Howard ultimately decided that he needed a season of seasoning at Ohio State.

“I was projected a 3rd- to 6th-round pick, that’s what I was hearing. You can never really trust everything you hear, but that was consensus what I was hearing,” Howard told reporters after entering the transfer portal and heading to Columbus. “I just felt like I had the opportunity and felt like my talent level didn’t match where my stock was. And I felt like I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to try and bump that up and go somewhere to compete for a national championship.”

Gambling on yourself is always a tricky proposition, but Howard ran the numbers correctly on all fronts. Howard has completed 72.6% of his passes for the Buckeyes in 2024, throwing for 3,779 yards and 33 touchdowns. His passer rating, which hovered between 140-150 in 2 years as a starter at Kansas State, is a startlingly strong 173.7 heading into Monday’s title game. And Howard’s 87.6 QBR in 2024 sits just 1.1 points behind Ward, the Heisman Trophy finalist.

Even with the stunningly good measurables, Howard’s stock took a major hit – much like the rest of his Buckeyes’ teammates – in Ohio State’s 13-10 loss to Michigan on Nov. 30. Howard went just 19-of-33 that fateful afternoon for 175 yards and a touchdown with 2 interceptions.

It didn’t help that, hours after that Michigan debacle, the player Howard replaced — oft-maligned Kyle McCord — threw for 380 yards and 3 TDs to lead his new team, Syracuse, to an upset win over Ward and Miami. That win knocked Miami out of the Playoff — and McCord and his new teammates couldn’t resist poking the Buckeye.

“Everything comes full circle,” McCord told reporters.

The quarterback comparison was inevitable and season-long. Part of the reason McCord transferred was his inability to beat Michigan in 2023. The final day of this regular season just exacerbated the situation.

“It hurts, man,” Howard said to reporters after losing to the Wolverines. “I can’t say it enough: I’m sorry to Buckeye Nation. But listen, we still have things in front of us. And we can still run the table and win a national championship. At the end of the day, that’s what we have to focus on.”

And focus Howard did. He dissected Tennessee to the tune of 24-of-29 in the air for 311 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Playoff first round, then torched No. 1 seed Oregon for 319 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Rose Bowl. And Howard completed the postseason trifecta with a 24-of-33 night against Texas for 289 yards and another TD – an effort that seemed in jeopardy after he sustained an injury to his left hand that blossomed a gruesome knot on it as the game wore on.

With 33 TD passes this season, Howard is within 1 of McCord’s total.

In sum and in reality, Howard has been trending toward Monday’s moment for going on 3 years. By being patient at Kansas State and then seizing the opportunity when it came, he was able to parlay it into a fifth year at Ohio State in a dual attempt to up his pro stock and compete for a national championship.

Whether Howard gets that ring Monday or not, and whether he hits like Stroud and Fields in the NFL or not, is still up to fate and good fortune. And he is certainly being overlooked at this very moment by players like former Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire.

Nevertheless, here Howard stands – a Rose Bowl champion who is just 60 minutes away from leading Ohio State to its ninth national title and first since 2014.

Not bad for an accounting major from tiny Downingtown, Pa.