Her Sister Set Her Up with Her Boyfriend’s Teammate in College. Now They’re Both WAGs in the NFL (Exclusive)

For the most part, the love story goes like this: girl meets boy, boy meets girl. Things go well, things get serious, then boy and girl meet each other’s families. But what if things are going well and getting serious while he’s on a field playing for one of the biggest collegiate football franchises in the country?

The order of that love story is going to look a little different in that case, at least according to Skyler Skoglund. The 24-year-old started dating NFL rookie Will Howard, also 24, when he was the starting quarterback at Ohio State University last November, and she spent a good chunk of their early relationship cheering him on alongside his parents and siblings.

Not that Skoglund had any issues with the early introduction. On the contrary, while Howard was busy making the plays that earned him an Offensive MVP title in January 2025, his girlfriend was more than happy to get in with his family.

“I feel like a lot of people asked, ‘Oh, have you met his parents?’ And I’m like, ‘Actually, I knew them better before I knew him,'” Skoglund tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I got along really well with his sisters and his parents, and I was like, ‘They are the coolest people ever. I know I’m going to love Will.'”

Howard was drafted onto the Pittsburgh Steelers fresh out of college, and Skoglund has continued to attend all of his games alongside Howard’s loved ones. However, she does have some shared football experiences in her own family as well.

Her sister, Sara, is engaged to Cincinnati Bengals player Seth McLaughlin, who previously played with Howard at Ohio State. In fact, Sara and her fiancé actually set up her little sister and Howard in the first place.

“They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, Will and Skyler are so similar, they need to meet. This is crazy,'” Skoglund recalls. “Our first date actually was to a comedy show, it was a double date with Sarah and Seth, and it was so much fun.”

Dating an NFL player (or even a college football player) can be an intense experience. Practice schedules are demanding, and the team is constantly traveling for away games. With every win and loss, there are accompanying emotional highs and lows, and moving is always a possibility should a player get traded.

Some might view that lifestyle as unstable, both for the pro and his partner. Skoglund, for her part, sees it as exciting, and she manages to balance her staunch support for Howard with her own career as an anesthesia assistant.

“With healthcare, it’s a little bit tricky, because with Will’s job we’re just always on a flight or going somewhere,” she explains, noting that since Howard has been injured, she’s been able to put in time working at home. Otherwise, she tries to attend as many games — away and at home — as possible.

In many ways, being a “WAG” — the colloquial acronym for “wives and girlfriends” of professional athletes — is a full-time job, too, but not just because of the travel demands. It’s about being a well-rounded “support system” for your significant other, Skoglund shares.

“I think people don’t see that perspective, because you see what’s posted online or what’s on TV and everything,” she continues. “It’s a lot of just making sure you can feel comfortable with each other and support each other in the good times and the bad times.”

She refers to one game when a play gone awry made Howard the target of “a whole mass of people on social media saying so many awful things.” She adds, “I believe that we got closer through harder times, when he’s had really tough games.”

Plus, Skoglund has a whole community of Steelers WAGs to help her learn the ropes of dating a professional athlete, and she says the veteran partners have been nothing but “inclusive.” They’ve hosted several get-togethers where all the women can spend quality time together.

“When you’re in a setting that’s apart from the guys and everything with football, you really just get to see people as normal and talk to them and have conversations,” she says. “So many of these girls are so smart and have things that they do in their lives that sometimes can feel like they may be overshadowed by their partner.”

As fun and exciting as the NFL season gets, Skoglund and other partners of players know that they’re more than just WAGs (even though Skoglund says she actually doesn’t mind the nickname). She also maintains that it can’t be everything in a relationship, and with her and Howard, there’s so much more than meets the public eye.

“I’m a person and Will’s a person. We’re together and we support each other, and we’re comfortable with each other and are each other’s best friends,” she says. “Football is a big part of our life, but it’s not everything. We talk about the things he loves or I love or about our days — just normal, typical conversations that people might not think we have.”