Ohio State alum highlights how Will Howard wasn't the "most desirable" QB Ryan Day could've picked up 

Quarterback Will Howard and the Ohio State Buckeyes are headed to the national championship game after defeating the Texas Longhorns 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl. With the game scheduled to take play on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, many media members have started to reflect on how the finalists got to this point.

On Friday, Ohio State alum Bobby Carpenter appeared on the "Saturday Down South" podcast to discuss the Buckeyes and what they did in the offseason to have success this year.

He brought up that while Howard was not the most desirable quarterback for the Buckeyes to pick up in the offseason, he was someone Ryan Day targeted specifically.

"I think when you look at this season coming in, there were huge expectations placed on Ryan Day," Carpenter said (starts at 1:00:35). "Some of those have been fulfilled, some of them haven't. You're gonna have that with 18 to 21, 22, even 23 and 24 year olds now. Obviously they spent a lot of money on NIL, a lot of that was player retention. They were strategic in there selections.

"You get Caleb Downs, obviously a big big pick, Quinshon Judkins, big pickup. You know Will Howard, big pickup but a lot of people were looking at Cam Ward, Riley Leonard. He wasn't probably the most desirable guy nationally. I think Ryan kind of targeted him and liked what he was about."

Will Howard had a big impact in the college football playoff for the Buckeyes

Although Will Howard is not viewed as a superstar quarterback like Shedeur Sanders in Colorado or Cam Ward in Miami, he has been effective.

Throughout the regular season, Howard only had one game where he exceeded 300 yards. However, in the first two games of the playoffs, Howard threw for 311 and 319 yards. Then in the most recent game, he threw for 289 yards. There were only two games this season where he threw for more yards than his worst playoff game.

Ryan Day might not have picked up a superstar in Will Howard last offseason. However, he has someone capable of elevating his game in big moments. That is what has allowed the Buckeyes to dominate their opponents after a disappointing loss in the regular season finale to Michigan.