Will Howard came to Ohio State for ultimately 2 main reasons: To win a national title, and to improve his NFL Draft stock.

Howard has achieved both of those, leading the Buckeyes to their first national title since 2014 with a career-best season in the offense under Ryan Day and Chip Kelly. Now, he’s in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine with a chance to improve his stock even further, and it appears he’s taking his time in Indy very seriously.

On Friday, Pat McAfee relayed a story that was given to him by a visitor to the city for the weekend. According to that story, the visitors were arriving at the hotel late in the evening around 11 pm and spotted an individual undertaking a throwing workout in the parking lot.

Upon inspection, that individual was Will Howard, and McAfee believes it illustrates the Ohio State QB is primed to come out and deliver a big-time showing:

“I don’t know if (Howard) flew in or got here earlier, but he had a throwing schedule that had to happen, did it at 11 pm last night in a hotel parking lot. Not for the cameras, there were no cameras around. The person walking by said it was just him and 1 other person who was catching the ball for him,” relayed McAfee. “… Will Howard is ready to come out here and make a big impression I believe.”

After the national title, Howard himself made an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” to describe his mentality and the QB admitted he’s got a chip on his shoulder:

“… I’m looking forward to get after it… I’m just excited to get out there and hopefully prove some people wrong throughout this process. I’ve felt like I’ve had that chip on my shoulder the whole time,” said Howard. “I believe I can be a first-round draft pick, I believe I can go in and lead an organization, and I watch to show these teams they can trust me to be that guy.”

At this point in the process, Howard ranks well behind Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders in the odds of becoming the first QB selected at DraftKings. Jaxson Dart, Jalen Milroe and Quinn Ewers are also ahead of Howard in those odds, so he could certainly use a strong combine to improve his outlook for the draft.

Overall, most analysts view this as a weak draft for quarterbacks, so there is plenty of opportunity out there for Howard. As for the NFL Draft odds, be sure to use the DraftKings promo code Ohio for the best offers.