PITTSBURGH --Will Howard admitted his first week of practices were not sterling. He went out of his way to denote his first day as ‘rough,’ but thought he improved as the week on at Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs.
“First day was a work in progress,” Howard said. “I didn’t feel great about my first day, just coming off the field. But it was a good learning experience for me. I wasn’t expecting to be perfect on my first day. I’m not going to be perfect. That’s the thing. You’ve gotta learn. Especially me being young, you’ve gotta be able to roll with the punches and know that you’re going to make some mistakes, especially being a rookie. It’s how you learn from it, come back from it and don’t get affected by that. The second I mess up and then get in my head and shut down, that’s when problems happen. I felt like Day 1, just wasn’t really comfortable yet, didn’t really know where my feet were, was a little off timing. And then Day 2 and 3, I think I’ve been a lot better.”
Howard’s biggest challenge is simply the speed of the game. Even playing at Ohio State and winning a National Championship never prepared Howard, a sixth-round pick by the Steelers, for what he saw on the practice field.
Howard transferred into Columbus from Kansas State, where he was a multiple-year starter and team captain. During his season, the Buckeyes were an up-and-down offense but became an elite unit once Howard’s play took a significant leap in the College Football Playoff.
This week, however, was Howard’s biggest challenge so far in his football career.
“The speed of the game, the disguises the defense shows,” Howard said. “You look out there and you see Minkah [Fitzpatrick] and DeShon [Elliott] and you don’t really know where they’re going to. I remember just my first day of rookie minicamp, I remember there was a check. It was a one-high, two-high check. It looked like it was going one-high, but then it went two-high. That kind of stuff is all just different. It all happens a little faster. It’s slowed down for me over the course of the last three days, but just gotta continue to keep working and getting used to this level of football and this speed of football. I feel like I played at the highest level of college, so I have a good foundation. But nothing compares to this.”
In his last collegiate season, Howard threw for 4010 passing yards, a career-high. With that, he posted a 73 percent completion percentage, another career-high mark. Howard had 35 touchdowns to 10 interceptions.
Despite falling past where he thought he would, Howard’s improvement over three days is at least an encouraging sign the Steelers could find something more than a usual sixth-round quarterback in him.