Up until Monday night it was a forgone conclusion that Rivals100 quarterback Sam Howell would be signing with Florida State, the program he committed to back in April, but the chances of that happening have taken a serious hit with the news that former Seminoles quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Walt Bell is taking the head coach position at Massachusetts.
Howell and his family have a very strong bond with Bell. He was the first coach to offer Howell back when he was the offensive coordinator at Maryland and once he took the job at Florida State is was only a matter of time before Howell committed to the Seminoles. Florida State head coach Willie Taggart has built a good relationship with Howell but now he will have to fight tooth and nail to keep Howell in the fold. Taggart has been reaching out to Howell’s camp more over the last few days and they expected something was going to happen.
North Carolina head coach Mack Brown met with Howell and his family a few days ago and the initial meeting went very well. Brown hasn’t lost anything as a recruiter in the few years since he left Texas. North Carolina was a major contender for Howell before Larry Fedora was fired and now it seems as though the Tar Heels have more momentum than ever when it comes to flipping Howell. Brown made it clear to Howell that his team will run a wide-open offense similar to Oklahoma’s or the offense Kliff Kingsbury ran at Texas Tech. How important to Howell will the hire of an offensive coordinator at North Carolina be? On a scale of 1-10, “at least an 8,” according to a source.
Miami is the other major contender for Howell and the Hurricanes were one of the top three programs for him when he originally announced his commitment in the spring. The Canes have been pushing hard for Howell to flip and Mark Richt made the trip to see Howell at the end of last week. There is a lot that they like in Coral Gables and they see how talented that team is. They believe that team could really go places with a quality quarterback under center.
Over the next few days coaches from all three schools will visit Howell. Miami quarterbacks coach Jon Richt is scheduled to visit Howell on Tuesday. On Wednesday, coaches from North Carolina, likely Tommy Thigpen and Tim Brewster, will visit. Florida State head coach Willie Taggart will make the trip to see Howell.
Howell, who still plans on signing in the Early Signing Period in two weeks, has only taken two official visits. The week of the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, an all-star game pitting players from North Carolina against players from South Carolina, begins on Sunday, Dec. 9 and Howell remains steadfast in his commitment to take part in all the events of the week and play in the game on Saturday, Dec. 15. If Howell wanted to use another official visit, it would have to happen this weekend. There is some doubt that he would even want to do that because he probably wouldn’t make it to the check-in at Shrine Bowl on time.
RIVALS’ REACTION…
Losing Bell is a punch in the gut for Florida State and right now I’d put the chances of Howell signing with the Noles at less that 50-percent. Out of the three teams vying for Howell’s signed National Letter of Intent, Richt and his staff at Miami have the best relationship with Howell but momentum is on the side of the Tar Heels at this point. If they hire an offensive coordinator that Howell likes and gels with quickly, North Carolina could end up with the first major recruiting win of Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill.
