Jared Cohen
2017 Point Guard Markus Howard is in the midst of what has been a very successful season thus far with Findlay Prep. He is the leading scorer on the team at 20.6 points per game and just under three assists a game while shooting 54 percent from the floor and 51 percent from three. He recently had one of his best performances to date scoring 26 points with five 3-pointers in a 79-61 over Wasatch Academy from Utah at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.
Since the season began, Howard has been dialed into his game on the court and has kept things quiet with his recruitment coming off an impressive summer winning a gold medal with USA Basketball where he shot over 48 percent from downtown for the U16 team which was a new USA record 3-Point Percentage. But now, the 5-11, 185 pound guard has set four of his five official visits leading up to the announcement of his commitment which he plans to make at some point in March.
His first official visit will be this weekend (Jan 1-3) with Bobby Hurley and Arizona State. Howard first committed to the Sun Devils back in August of 2014 at the start of his sophomore year at Perry High School in Gilbert, AZ. Howard then re-opened his recruitment this past March. ASU has since gone through a coaching change and Hurley has made it a point to continue to pursue Howard since taking over.
Howard will be in attendance as ASU takes on rival Arizona in Tempe on Sunday. He also holds an offer from Sean Miller and the Wildcats.
Three more official visits have also been locked in starting with Marquette from February 26-28. Next is Central Arkansas on March 2-4 where his older brother Jordan, the reigning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, leads the team in scoring through the first 10 games at over 15 points per game. Then lastly, will go to Baylor shortly after from March 4-6. That will leave him with one more official visit if he decides to use it.
Howard presently has 18 scholarship offers which include California, Indiana, Memphis, Northern Arizona, Nebraska, San Diego State, Santa Clara, Texas Tech, UConn, UNLV, USC, Utah and Wichita State along with the aforementioned schools.
But will Howard remain a 2017 prospect?
The 16 year old is considering the possibility reclassifying to the class of 2016. He has stated the importance of keeping his options open but it is something he is preparing for though it has not been determined as of yet. Howard is actually on track to graduate in 2016 as he is currently taking nine classes, six of which are core classes. Also as of this week, he is taking a final core class online which he will be required to complete.
A reclassification would surly intensify his recruitment and if he decides to do so, we could see him playing at the next level as soon as next season.
