MANHATTAN, Kan. (K-State Athletics) – After guiding the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championship in 2022, Kansas State quarterback Will Howard was one of 85 players selected to the initial watch list for the 87th Maxwell Award as the outstanding player in college football, the Maxwell Football Club announced Monday.
Howard’s inclusion on the list marks the seventh-straight year a Wildcat has been up for the award. Some past notable K-State candidates are quarterbacks Michael Bishop (1998 finalist), Collin Klein (2012 finalist) and Jake Waters (2014 semifinalist). Howard is one of 13 players from the Big 12 to be a candidate for this year’s award.
A product of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Howard enters the 2023 campaign ranked eighth in school history in career passing yards per game (142.9), and 10th in both career passing efficiency (130.9) and career touchdowns responsible for (34). Additionally, he is one passing touchdown shy of tying for 10th in school history for a career, while he needs 1,258 passing yards to enter the school’s career top-10 list.
Playing in seven games with six starts over the second half of the season – including starts in the Big 12 Championship victory over TCU and in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama – Howard threw for 1,633 yards and 15 touchdowns with just four interceptions on 119-of-199 aim as he ranked eighth in school history with a 149.6 passer rating. Howard recorded multiple touchdown passes in six-straight games, the longest streak ever by a Wildcat in a single season and the longest overall since Josh Freeman did so in seven games (final three games of 2007, first four games of 2008). Included in that stretch was a school-record tying four touchdown passes in a 48-0 victory over Oklahoma State, a game in which he also set career highs in passing yards (296) and completions (21).
K-State reports to preseason camp on Tuesday with the first workout set for Wednesday morning. The Wildcats open the 2023 campaign by hosting SEMO inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday, September 2 in a 6 p.m., contest that will be shown on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
