Ohio State legend Jack Sawyer reveals the moment Will Howard proved he was 'the guy'

The Ohio State Buckeyes are the defending national champions after dominating the entire College Football Playoff. Their offense was phenomenal throughout the postseason, and the defense was equally outstanding. Ohio State's title run was led by quarterback Will Howard and anchored on defense by hometown hero Jack Sawyer.

Things looked bleak after the Buckeyes lost their final regular-season game to Michigan—for the fourth straight year. However, Sawyer made it clear that winning a national championship means far more.

“When you win a national championship, if anyone tells you they’d rather go 1-12 and just beat the ‘Team Up North,’ you’re crazy. You know what I mean? You’re playing this game to win championships,” Sawyer said.

Both Buckeye standouts were drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Howard went in the sixth round and could become the team's starting quarterback—assuming Aaron Rodgers stays out of the picture.

“Head coach Mike Tomlin ends up uninspired by both Rudolph and Thompson, which leads to Howard seizing the job after continuing the growth he showed as a passer as a Buckeye,” Garrett Podell said. “That is unless Aaron Rodgers joins the team after visiting the facility earlier in the offseason.”

Howard and Sawyer appeared on Ben Roethlisberger’s podcast, where Sawyer recounted testing Howard to see if he was really going to step up.

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“I want to see how tough this guy is. He made sure to test him at spring practices,” Sawyer said.

“He throws it and I just give him a little check to the chin area. And he goes back and shoves me. He’s like, ‘What the he** are you doing, man? Knock that s**t off!’ And I was like finally,” Sawyer added.

It's safe to say the veteran wanted to test the new guy—and once Howard got comfortable, he wasn’t afraid to push back. He brought that same fire to the field for Ohio State all season long.