Luke Howard Recruiting Update (2019)

As one of the top unsigned forwards in Tennessee, Class of 2019 #21 Luke Howard (Harding Academy) wittingly bypassed the early signing period.

"Not really pass up (signing)," said Howard's mother Christine Howard during a phone interview Monday.  "It is more that they want us to come to the school and go on visits.  There have been some unofficial visits like Drake and Northeastern."

Drake University is a high-academic Missouri Valley Conference institution in Des Moines, Iowa.  Northeastern is a strong public college in Boston, Massachusetts. 

"And UMass-Lowell came twice," said Mrs. Howard.  "The head coach came as well.  They wanted us to come out that weekend."

Right now Luke Howard has predominately Division II offers and Division I interest.  The culprit for Howard's marginal recruitment overall is an AAU experience that hovered between tepid and meaningless.

Starting with Team Thad 17u, Howard rarely saw the floor.  Though many college coaches watched Team Thad 17u play Howard was merely an ornamental bench piece with them. 

By July Howard and his family elected to play with a different AAU program.  Woodz Elite (Arkansas) became his home.  The Arkansas NIKE program were missing one significant big man, Jason Jitoboh.  Jitoboh broke his foot April/May and missed the remainer of the AAU season.

Howard's Woodz Elite timeframe was ok but not revoluationary.  They ventured to the Fab48 in Las Vegas during the final AAU weekend.

Howard's name is known by several college coaches.  He just needs to be evaluated more often.  

"Sometimes he has four or five coaches writing to him every night," said Mrs. Howard.  "The season is just starting.  A lot of people didn't get to see him play in the summer.  A lot of coaches want to come out to watch him."

Best Early Option

Lincoln Memorial was aggressively pushing for a Luke Howard commitment this fall. 

"We went for an official visit and they offered a full offer and wanted him to commit soon, but we decided to wait," said Mrs. Howard.

Lincoln Memorial average over 96 points per game last season. The Railsplitters of LMU annually compete for national titles.  It is just Division II.

"A lot of Div II, but Luke is hoping to go Div I," said Mrs. Howard.  "Another one that offered is Rollins College (Orlando)."

Rollins College also expressed interest in Luke's younger brother Anthony Howard.

Anthony is more of a wing than Luke, who is a faceup four.  Their younger sister Emily is already 6-foot-4 at age 15.  She will also have a strong chance to play college basketball.

Keep tuned in to @PrepHoopsTN as Luke's recruitment heats up this cold winter.

Right now no official visits are planned in the immediate future.  College coaches are likely to evaluate, but Howard is focusing on the early portion of his Harding Academy senior season.

"There is lot of interest.  Head coaches are coming to watch him and they want us to come up there.  We are trying to figure out what we are doing.  Seeing what is the best fit or anything."