Prospect Spotlight: Preston Howard (2022)
With an influx of talent in this year’s group of freshmen in Baltimore, McDonogh arguably has the most exciting group. One of their talented freshman is Preston Howard, a 6-foot-5 forward that looks to make an impact right away for the Eagles.
Mcdonogh has started the year 2-0 with wins over Chapelgate and Friends School. In both games, they were heavy favorites, but it was the type of schedule this team needed to gain confidence with their young players. For Howard, he was able to play respectable minutes off the bench in both games. He is currently averaging six points and five rebounds.
As a freshman, there’s an adjustment period between the speed and physicality of the varsity game. Howard is well aware of each.
“It’s been going pretty good,” Howard said as he reflected on the practices leading up to their opener. “I’m working on my communication and just all of the fundamental stuff. I have to get better fundamentally. At this level, it doesn’t come down to jumping higher or being bigger than everybody, you actually have to be fundamentally sound.”
Howard continued by crediting his spring and summer with Team Durant in terms of building his overall skill set. As a freshman at 6-foot-5, you’d assume that teams would want him to play more on the block, but Durant gave him some opportunities to handle the ball in order to increase his versatility.
In terms of his role for McDonogh, Howard is still very much in the feeling out process.
“I have big expectations for this team,” Howard told Prep Hoops. “We’ll be pretty good this year, we’re just building and getting used to each other’s play styles. But we should be good for this year and be even better for years to come. I think this year I’m looking to fill the role of being a hustle and hard-nosed player. There will be times where I can show my versatility by playing on the wing, but for the most part just doing whatever I need to to help the team win.”
People often think that the offseason is the only time where players can improve on their skill set, but the truth is, working on improving should never have a time frame.
“I need to improve my jump shot,” Howard continued, “it’s difficult just because I just got out of football too, but I have to dedicate myself to getting in the gym and improving. That, and just getting faster and stronger in the weight room so I can hold my own at the varsity level.”
Howard is a dual-sport athlete as he alluded to. This year for the football team, he was a standout quarterback on the varsity team that helped him gain interest from high-major programs around the country.
“I’ve been hearing from USC, Virginia Tech, Penn State and a few others,” Howard said.
It’s still very early in the basketball season, but Howard hopes to transition his production on the gridiron to the hardwood as McDonogh looks to be a challenging opponent in the MIAA A Conference.