COLUMBUS — Following Kyle McCord’s surprising transfer to Syracuse and a Cotton Bowl performance that offered little insight into the future of the quarterback position at Ohio State, the Buckeyes have landed an additional option for the 2024 season via the transfer portal.

After wrapping up his visit to Columbus this week, former Kansas State starting quarterback Will Howard announced he has committed to Ohio State on Thursday. He chose the Buckeyes after also considering offers from USC and Miami. Howard, who has one year of eligibility remaining, started 27 games across four seasons for Kansas State and will bring a dual-threat element to the Ohio State offense for the first time since Justin Fields was at the helm in 2019-20.

Howard is coming off his best statistical season a year ago when he threw for 2,643 yards and 24 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. He added 351 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 81 attempts and has rushed for 921 yards and 19 touchdowns in his career. Howard was awarded second-team All-Big 12 honors following the season. In 2022, he led Kansas State to a Big 12 championship.

Speaking with ESPN’s Pete Thamel, who first reported the commitment, Howard said, “I knew that if I passed this up, I’d regret passing up the chance to go be the quarterback at Ohio State. I knew I’d be kicking myself if I passed up this opportunity.”

He added, “The goal I have, I want to go win a national championship. At the end of the day, I want to go be a starting quarterback in the NFL … I feel like the best place to stick as a quarterback in the NFL is as a first- or second-round pick in the NFL draft. Going to Ohio State gives me a chance to make a jump and leap into that conversation.”

Despite McCord’s uneven play throughout the season, Ohio State was not an immediate player in the transfer quarterback market following its loss to Michigan in the regular season finale. McCord threw for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns on the season, his first as a starter, and had likely shown enough to earn the opportunity to build on his year of experience heading into next season.

Even after McCord decided to leave, head coach Ryan Day expressed confidence in the quarterback room as it stood heading into Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl matchup with Missouri. That game likely influenced the increased sense of urgency with Howard, though, as Brown and the Ohio State offense struggled mightily against Missouri before Brown was forced out of the game in the first half with an ankle injury, the third time he’d been sidelined with an ankle injury that season.

With Brown again injured, true freshman Lincoln Keinholz was thrust into the first action of his career in the Cotton Bowl and, predictably, looked unsettled although he was never given much chance to compete behind a porous offensive line. By the end of the game, it had become increasingly clear Ohio State needed to bolster its options at quarterback.

While Howard will still have to compete for the starting job, he provides a badly needed insurance policy for Day and Ohio State with only incoming freshman Air Noland behind Brown and Keinholz in the quarterback room. Howard, a Pennsylvania native, is already embracing the immense pressure he will face should he ultimately win the job, beginning with the push to end a three-game losing streak to Michigan.

Howard told ESPN, “That game means so much. The pressure is on. Beating that team up north is priority number one on the way to the national championship and all our other goals. That’s huge, and it’s everything when it comes to playing for Ohio State.”

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on Twitter @DillonDavis56.