How many true freshmen could have done better in his place that season? I say very, very few. He was good as a true freshman.
He wasn’t just “not good, even for a freshman.” He was almost unbelievably bad. Like it was difficult to believe any human could be so bad at being a quarterback.
That response is not a long list of people who would have been better, is it?
Like, in the history of the game of football? A lot?
I get hardly any true freshman are asked to play meaningful snaps at QB (though a lot more are doing it a lot more). But in 2020 alone, Michael Pratt, Jeff Sims (then at GT), Max Johnson (then at LSU), DJU, Harrison Bailey of Tennessee, Ken Seals of Vandy. Avery was "good" this year. Howard was not in 2020.
Even for a true freshman, he was not "good."
I agree that he doesn't compare with the top 1% of true freshman. Here's what I mean. Imagine you take every true freshman from every team in the country and have them play as much as Howard did as a true freshman. Where does Howard rank on that list?