Recruiting update: Luke Howard (2019)
Basketball is very important for senior forward Luke Howard, but getting his education is just as important. Wherever Howard decides to go, that particular school’s coaching staff will need to make it clear to him that education is very important.…
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Continue ReadingBasketball is very important for senior forward Luke Howard, but getting his education is just as important.
Wherever Howard decides to go, that particular school’s coaching staff will need to make it clear to him that education is very important. Howard needs to have the assurance that his future coaching staff will push him to be successful on and off the court.
Because of support from his parents (Christine and Austin Howard) and his high school basketball coach Kevin Starks, Luke prides on putting education at the top of his list, along with basketball.
“If you get hurt or something, and you don’t care about your schooling, you will be screwed, and you can’t play basketball,” said Luke, who mentioned Coach Starks and his parents are always pushing him to be great in the classroom. “Education should be really important for you.”
Schools will eventually find out how serious Luke is about his education, but the schools that are recruiting him hard at the moment already know what type of basketball player he is. At 6-foot-8, Luke is very skilled. He can rebound, shoot from different areas on the court, defend, and contest shots at the rim.
During his senior season for Harding Academy, Luke had moments where he showed his ability to run the floor in transition that led to smooth dunks. His skillset is fitting for an offense that likes to run an up-tempo style of play. Luke can play on the wing, mostly at the small forward position, but can be a stretch power forward, depending on the matchups.
For the Lions this past season, Luke averaged 24.3 points, eight rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. He shot 62 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range. He was also an All-District selection and was named the MVP of the “Above The Rim” tournament. Luke was named the District Co-MVP and was named to the All-State team. He reached 1,000 points in his career for Harding Academy.
As of right now, Luke has offers from Drake, Marist, and UT-Arlington. Belmont and Georgia State are giving Luke looks but have yet to offer him a scholarship. There’s no frontrunner for Luke’s services at the moment, and he plans on taking visits to the five schools. He has also made it known that his recruitment is wide open after recently decommitting from Lipscomb after Casey Alexander left the Bisons to become the head coach for the Belmont Bruins.
On Monday, Lipscomb guard Kenny Cooper announced via Twitter his plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal after leading the Bisons to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament this past season.
Whether or not Luke recommits to Lipscomb is unclear, but his offensive production will help the Bisons or any other school of his choice.
Luke was asked what type of player the school of his choice will be getting. His response: “I like to win. I don’t like to lose. Also, I can stretch the floor. I play defense, I can rebound, block shots, and I can score pretty well. I can be a good role player if I have to be.”