Caleb Williams is yet to officially declare for the 2024 NFL Draft, but that doesn’t appear to be stopping Lincoln Riley from investigating replacement options in the college football transfer portal. According to the latest college football rumors, the USC Trojans have emerged as the favorite to land quarterback Will Howard.
Is Will Howard Headed to USC?
The former Kansas State Wildcat flew into Los Angeles on Friday, and his official visit appears to have made quite the impression on both parties. CFB rumors emerging late on Saturday night appear to point to a union between Howard and USC, with the fourth-year quarterback set to compete for the starting job with Miller Moss and Malachi Nelson.
Pete Nakos of On3.com logged an RPM for USC to land Howard from the transfer portal, setting up an intriguing battle for the Trojans’ QB1 spot in 2024 while seemingly setting in stone current QB and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Williams’ departure from Los Angeles.
While his move to the NFL has felt like a certainty for over a year, there hasn’t been an actual declaration.
Howard entered the portal on Nov. 27 after spending four seasons with Kansas State. The former Pennsylvania Player of the Year committed to the Wildcats in the 2020 recruiting class, quickly establishing himself with seven starts in his true freshman season.
Although injury and inconsistency impacted his time in Manhattan, he led the team to the Big 12 title in 2022.
During his four seasons with the Wildcats, Howard threw for 5,786 yards with 48 touchdowns, completing 58.8% of his passes. He’s coming off a career-high single-season performance where he completed 61.3% of his passes for 2,643 yards and 24 touchdowns.
MORE: College Football Transfer Portal Tracker
While he isn’t the creative wizard that Williams has been for USC, Howard’s also added 921 rushing yards and 19 scores. In fact, Howard is a very different quarterback to what USC fans have gotten used to since head coach Riley and his former Oklahoma quarterback came to town.
At 6’4″, 235 pounds, he’s a big-framed thrower whose experience has been in run-centric offenses. However, he boasts the arm talent to trouble all field levels and improved in the mental side of the game this fall.
While the latest college football rumors suggest that Howard to USC is more likely than not, the former Kansas State passer has taken visits to multiple teams. He was in Miami with the Hurricanes earlier this week, while there were social media rumors that he met with Nebraska.
However, with a 99.6% probability from On3.com, it seems Howard is headed to USC.
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