Former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, the Wildcats’ all-time leading touchdown passer, may have finished his college career hoisting the national championship trophy for Ohio State, but he still has love for Manhattan.
“I stay close in touch with my guys over at K-State,” Howard said during a College Football Playoff press conference. “The relationships I made there, I’ll never take that for granted; they are my brothers for life. I love Kansas State. God has blessed me with the opportunity to play for two really amazing universities.”
The Wildcats signed two transfers — offensive tackle George Fitzpatrick and linebacker Gabe Powers — from the national champion Buckeyes this offseason, and both credited Howard for a glowing recommendation of Manhattan.
“[Howard] was definitely selling me hard on it, just saying how he thought I could fit in,” Fitzpatrick said. “He thought it’d be a great fit here and how all the guys here are all hard working. He told me a lot about coach Tru [director of strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll] and the culture here. He definitely did a good job selling it.”
Fitzpatrick, who practices alongside Will’s younger brother, freshman offensive lineman Ryan Howard, became very close with the Howard duo.
“Will and I got really close,” Fitzpatrick said. “He came in [to Ohio State] and totally took over the locker room. He’s a real guy and a really good dude and a great person. I’ve had some good conversations with Ryan, too. It’s definitely a good fit.”
Powers, who was roommates with Fitzpatrick at Ohio State, took Howard’s words on The Little Apple to heart as well.
“Hearing him give the highest of praise, he was obviously here for a while,” Powers said. “So getting a kind of secondhand experience from somebody was really good.”
In addition to Howard, Powers was impressed with the K-State fan base and its treatment of Howard after transferring.
“A lot of fan bases hate on guys that transfer,” he said. “You didn’t see that here. You saw the most love from this fan base towards Will, cheering Will on. So seeing that, seeing both sides of it was really amazing.”
Now that Fitzpatrick and Powers are here, they’re looking forward to getting a chance to compete at the highest level again — but this time sporting purple.
“I’ve seen what it takes to go to the national championship, and I think we have the group to do it here,” Fitzpatrick said.
