Ohio
Here’s where quarterback Will Howard is impressing Ohio State’s wide receivers
Brandon Inniss gets questions about Will Howard, the most talked-about quarterback in Ohio State’s high-profile competition to start behind center.
They come from teammates, asking for his assessment of the veteran transfer from Kansas State.
The exchanges prompt him to point to Howard’s leadership.
“Everybody listens to him when he’s in the huddle,” Inniss said. “He’s the commander. A lot of the quarterbacks have been very good, but he’s been on a different level.”
A day after Buckeyes coach Ryan Day seemingly moved closer to naming Howard as the frontrunner in the battle, impressed by him taking more of a command of the offense in preseason training camp, those tasked with catching passes from the quarterback were in sync.
They concurred that Howard had taken strides since spring practice, looking more comfortable as the signal caller.
The consensus among the handful of wide receivers is that Howard has been more at ease.
“He’s definitely getting more comfortable,” redshirt freshman Bryson Rodgers said. “He’s been a great aspect to this team. He’s a great voice in the locker room, great energy.”
More: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
The demeanor has translated to the fields outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, where the Buckeyes have been practicing since camp opened last week.
“You can feel his fifth-year presence when he steps onto the field,” senior Emeka Egbuka said. “Gets in the huddle, takes command of it, lets everybody know their assignments and what they got. Like a field general out there.
“He has tremendous confidence in his ability, so that that bleeds out throughout the entire offense, and we’re able to play fast.”
Howard is loose enough that he’s even been willing to partake in a little trash talking during competitive periods.
“I like his confidence,” said Jeremiah Smith, the Buckeyes’ hyped freshman receiver. “He’s starting to talk more, talk a lot of mess on the field. I love quarterbacks that like to talk.”
Not always PG, either.
“He says a lot of stuff I can’t say,” Smith said, “but he’ll talk for sure.”
More: How is Ohio State QB Will Howard different since the spring? Let us count the ‘weighs’
The passage of time has allowed Howard to settled in at Ohio State. He only transferred to the school in January.
Spring practice required him to digest a new playbook and become more familiar with teammates. The timing between a quarterback and receivers remains paramount.
When Howard met with reporters earlier this week, he described the experience as like drinking from a fire hose.
“It’s something where you’re in a new environment,” Egbuka said. “You got to get accustomed to the people. You got to get accustomed to the new offense. So it’s all coming with time, and he just continues to get better and better every practice.”
The receivers don’t see the trajectory changing, holding high hopes for the athletic 6-foot-4 quarterback.
“Will’s a great quarterback,” Rodgers said, “and he just going to keep growing and keep becoming better and better for this team.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @joeyrkaufman or email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com.
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MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Chardon Post is investigating a fatal plane crash that killed three people around 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
According to a press release, about one mile east of the Geauga County Airport, a Piper Comanche 250 crashed into a field.
The plane sustained major damage — killing three Ohioans who were identified as Thomas A. Cunningham, 76, of Rome, John W. Taipale, 71, and Alexander C. Taipale, 40, both from Geneva.
OSHP was assisted by the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, Geauga County Coroner’s Office, Geauga County Emergency Management Agency, Middlefield Fire Department and Community Care Ambulance.
The Western Reserve Port Authority, Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport’s executive director, Anthony Trevena, reached out to our team with a statement regarding the crash.
“We were heartbroken to learn that members of our extended YNG and Youngstown aviation family, were victims in today’s crash in Geagua County. Our deepest condolences go out the Cunningham and Taipale families. We ask that their privacy please be respected during this difficult time. The FAA and NTSB are leading the investigation to determine the cause and will provide any updates as information becomes available.,” Trevena said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were notified of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — As concerns have grown over the impact of social media on young people, lawmakers are pushing to keep protections in tact to keep children safe online.
This week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio’s law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media must be restored. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the act into law in July 2023.
Netchoice, the trade group that represents Tik Tok, Snapchat, Meta and other tech companies contested Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” Paul Taske, NetChoice Litigation Center Director said.
Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel does not agree with this view point, determined that the law is not unconstitutional and had the block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
The Social Media Parental Notification Act is a way to protect children’s mental health against the “intentionally addictive” nature of social media, according to U.S. senator Jon Husted.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the ruling is “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — When you think of wild animals in central Ohio, a black bear likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That’s why one Licking County family said they couldn’t believe their eyes.
It was an average afternoon drive home for father and son, Justin and Aaron Rhodes, when something walked into the road in front of them.
“I didn’t even think it was real at first, so that’s why I had to do the double take,” Justin said.
Aaron said he thought it was “just a weird looking dog”.
To their disbelief, it was a bear. The sighting comes just one year after the animal was spotted in Licking County for the first time in more than two decades.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that they’re even around this area,” Justin said. “I’ve lived in this area for about 24 years now, so it’s been quite a while, and I’ve never seen one before.”
These sightings are becoming more common. The Ohio Division of Wildlife said the black bear population is growing in the state, and they expect those trends to continue. Ohio saw a record number of confirmed sightings in 2025.
Lindsey Krusling, a wildlife communications specialist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are seeing more breeding females establish homes in the state, signaling the species is returning. Experts said the work restoring natural forest land is a big reason why.
“We’re starting to get some black bears coming in from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Krusling said. “They’re naturally crossing those state borders and coming back to Ohio because we have more of that habitat available to them, especially those forested areas.”
As the black bear population grows, the Division of Wildlife is expanding its research. They are putting radio collars on some bears they find in the state to help track data, such as if the bears are staying here, how far they’ve traveled and if they’re successfully having cubs.
“We’re trying to get quite a bit of data from these bears, and we’re super excited to see where this takes us,” Krusling said.
The research is in the beginning stages, but they expect population growth to continue, Krusling said.
Sighting reports can be submitted here to help the Division of Wildlife track black bear populations throughout the state.
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