Howard receives lofty comparison
Theo Howard is a big-time receiver in the 2016 class and after recently visiting USC for practice the Westlake Village (Calif.) Westlake recruit is clear what the Trojans think about him.
"The only thing I've done recently is I went to go watch USC practice," Howard said.
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"(Coach Steve Sarkisian) just told me to come on down and watch the practice. I got to talk with coach (Clay) Helton, coach Tee (Martin), basically everybody recruiting me and they all said they're really interested in me.
"They were comparing me to the guys that are there like Nelson Agholor. (Helton) said he already sees it in the way I play and he loves the way I play and that I play just like Nelson Agholor. He thinks I could do big things in the program."
That was a heady comparison for Howard, who finished his junior season with 52 receptions for 869 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Agholor talk was definitely memorable and the USC coaches made it clear that early playing time is a possibility. They used JuJu Smith as a perfect example.
"(Helton) was talking about guys that are working hard like JuJu Smith," Howard said. "He works hard and he's a guy everybody looks up to because of his work ethic."
So far, the Westlake receiver has been offered by Arizona State, Cal, Michigan, Oregon State, San Diego State, TCU, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State.
The offer from Michigan was another big one but Howard wants to see how the coaching situation plays out before he gets too serious about the Wolverines.
Things have slowed down since the end of his junior season but Howard plans plenty of off-season trips in the coming months.
"I don't have any exact dates but I'm sure after January I'll be taking a lot of visits to Alabama, Oregon, TCU and Washington," Howard said.