Junior NJ lineman is very athletic

New Egypt, N.J. is the home of junior lineman Josh Howard. The 6-foor-3, 235-pounder with 4.98-second speed plays a variety of positions in high school including offensive guard, linebacker, defensive end and special teams. Where does Howard project in college?

"He's pretty quick for a guy his size and I personally think he'll be awesome on the offensive line, but he could also play defensive tackle," said New Egypt head coach Tom Farrell. "He still has a lot of room to grow as his father is 6-foot-7, 300-pounds and I think he'll be up to 6-foot-5, 285-pounds before he gets out of here. Besides that, he has phenomenal feet, great quickness and just a natural athletic ability. He's freaky strong especially in his lower body. He also just started playing organized football as a freshman and now is just beginning to understand leverage and the game a lot better."

Last season as a sophomore Howard was named first team all-conference, first team all-county, second team all-area and honorable mention all-conference in basketball after averaging 10 points a game.

"He's got a unique combination of size and athletic ability. If you see him play basketball he wows you."

Colleges are just starting to pick up on Howard as local schools including Rutgers, Syracuse and West Virginia have shown interest.

This season Howard has played well.

"Just last Friday he had the best game of his career after we moved him inside to defensive tackle where he recorded 10 tackles, two sacks, two pressures and a forced fumble," said Farrell. "He's having a phenomenal year and I've just got to say besides being a great player he's a wonderful human being who has a great outlook on life."

Farrell keyed Rivals in on one other New Egypt prospect for 2007 in 6-foot-4, 255-pound center Dom Valdner.

"He's not exactly a prototypical Division I guy as he doesn't quite have the feet that Josh does and he's still raw, but he is definitely a Division I-AA guy," he said. "I think he's going to be a good one and is very smart as he's the No. 1 student in his class and has a 1450 SAT under the old version."