Will Howard is off the injured reserve list, but the Pittsburgh Steelers' rookie quarterback is trying to make up for lost time.

Howard had spent his rookie season on IR until being activated on Wednesday. He sustained a hand injury during training camp a year after quarterbacking Ohio State to the national championship. The sixth-round pick impressed during OTAs and the early stages of camp before being injured and unable to play in a preseason game.

However, the Steelers activated Howard's practice window three weeks ago. He will be in uniform for Sunday's game against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium as the third-string quarterback, backing up Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph.

Howard understands his spot on the depth chart and is using practice time to acclimate himself to the NFL.

"Reps are reps. At this level, especially going against our first team defense," Howard said. "I think a lot of people look at the scout team as just something that you're skipping over. But I think you can really get a lot out of it when you look at it the right way and approach it in the right way.

"I think there's a lot to learn from that stuff, and stuff you can work on that maybe you can't really do when you're working with the offense and trying to perfect the plays. So, just trying to get out there, give our defense a good look, and have fun doing it."

Howard had a lot of fun last season in leading Ohio State to its first national title since 2014. Howard's 4,010 passing yards and 35 touchdown passes were tops in the nation as he completed 73.0 percent of his attempts with 10 interceptions. In the victory over Notre Dame in the national championship games, Howard threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns and added 57 yards rushing.

Before transferring, Howard played for four seasons at Kansas State from 2020-23. He had 5,786 passing yards and 48 TD passes in 34 career games with the Wildcats.

Running the scout team isn't like playing in the national championship games. However, for now, it feels like Howard's Super Bowl.

"It was like all that joy of being a little kid playing football again came back," Howard said. "My first two plays on the scout team, I handed the ball off. I don't think I've ever smiled more on two handoff plays in my life. I was just happy to be back out there. It's been a long time. I'm just happy to be out there doing what I love."