Top 5: Arizona, Colorado, Michigan State, Iowa State, South Florida
Rundown: Arizona just offered junior safety Trevon Howard a couple weeks ago, but already has the Wildcats included on his early top 5 list that was released Monday evening. The 6-foot prospect, who is currently rated as a high three-star recruit by Rivals.com, has decided to start moving forward with the process after a new string of offers lately. His relationship with at least one of the coaches at Arizona goes back a couple years as Don Brown had targeted the Minnesota native back during his time at Michigan before Howard made the move to Florida to play at IMG Academy. That relationship/interest has been part of what has helped the Wildcats in his recruitment.
Michigan, Minnesota, Louisville and Indiana are some of the schools that have offered Howard but are not on the top-5 list. Though it is still very early in the process being part of the group for Howard is a good sign for the Wildcats, which have been active in recruiting IMG so far. Brennan Carroll coached at Miami and he's just one of the members of the staff with ties to Florida so UA is looking to make that part of the country a priority. The positive aspect of recruiting IMG is that the players there are from all over the country so the staff can utilize some of its other connections as well.
Colorado just offered him last week and made the cut showing that he is more than open to leaving home for college. The other schools on his list have been involved for longer, but right now a decision doesn't appear to be imminent so that should give the Wildcats an opportunity to continue putting in some work with him.
"Right now, I have all my options open," he previously said. "I don’t know where I want to be.”
Howard has been at IMG for over a year now so he has been able to go through quite a bit of time with that team, which gives players an opportunity for a college-like environment before they head off to college. It has helped him gain some more recruiting attention and it will continue to keep him as a priority recruit for the Wildcats.
"I started at IMG Academy in January, I like it," Howard said. "I came down here to get better as a player. This offseason I've been working on speed and one-on-one coverage mainly."
As a prospect he shows some impressive instincts and playmaking abilities on tape plus he has good range to cover along with showing some good versatility as well. He can be used in some different ways as he has played both free and strong safety in high school. He also can play on offense, but the focus will be to bring him in as a safety if he eventually picks the Wildcats.
Howard is definitely someone to keep a close watch on as the process continues to play out. I do expect him to continue adding offers and that could always change things, but right now there seems to be a good base for the Wildcats to build from in the early going. Although he doesn't plan on making a decision any time soon it wouldn't be shocking to see him eventually make his decision earlier than some other recruits in the class especially if he's already going public with a top group.
