Recruiting on the South Plains | Cornerback Jamarcus Howard Commits to Texas Tech

PLAYER: Jamarcus Howard

POSITION: Cornerback
HEIGHT: 5’11"
WEIGHT: 190
FORTY: 4.50
JUCO: Coffeyville C.C. (Coffeyville, KS)
VIDEO: Clip 1
RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals 5.5 | Scout | ESPN N/R | 24/7 Sports 83
CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8300
VTM PROFILE DATE: November 4, 2013

OFFERS | Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Texas Tech, West Virginia

STATS | Per the official NJCAA site, through 6 games, 32 tackles and 3 interceptions, although the Scout article linked below, says this:

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Howard has tallied 53 tackles, three for loss, two interceptions (one for a TD), five pass breakups, forced two fumbles, recovered one (for a 35-yard TD) and blocked two kicks in nine games this season. He was also picked as a honorable mention all-state selection by Scout.com his senior season at Tuscaloosa Northridge (AL) High School in 2011.

THE PLAYER SPEAKS | According to Scout, Howard can see himself playing quickly and liked the coaches:

"I was surprised after meeting the head coach and the rest of the coaches, how cool they are, that they're all young, how all of them are. I really like that," Howard said. "They just need more players, more people."

SCOUTING REPORT | More than anything else when watching cornerback film, I don’t know if I care all that much about the plays in front of the cornerback, but whether or not the cornerback can can run stride for stride with the receiver and where does he look. Is he looking at the receiver’s eyes? Is he holding on to the receiver. Is he keeping pace with the receiver. Those are the things that I want to watch, but a large portion of the video is good video of Howard keeping the play in front of him and making sure-handed tackles in space, which is important in today’s world. Maybe I’m jaded a bit by this with the issues with the current Texas Tech secondary.

Howard does have some pretty good size and that’s something that this team needs at the cornerback, especially if they ever want their cornerbacks to play physical in coverage. I’m still not sold on the idea that Howard or any other JUCO player can come in and contribute immediately, but we’ll see. It’s a tough transition and one that takes a year to adjust I think. If I had to put my money somewhere, I’d guess that the coaching staff might be redshirting Dorian Crawford and Martin Hill as they both had three years to play two seasons, at least that’s my theory. Fight through this year and let these two guys step in and play significantly next year.

Howard was featured on a site called Sleeper Prep where they rank the top 100 JUCO players and the list was in no particular order (they make note of that in the intro):

91. CB- Jamarcus Howard- 5'10", 180 lbs. -Coffeyville C.C. (Coffeyville, KS)- Has the ability to make it to the NFL. Jamarcus has superior athletic skills, 38" inch vertical, great recovery speed, plays with a ferocious swag, and incredible anticipation. Look for this stud at a big-time college football squad in 2014.

Also, Howard made honorable mention All-State at Northridge HS in Tuscaloosa as a senior and was maybe offered by Miami and Mississippi St., but most likely had issues with qualifying and is why Howard went the JUCO route.

Jamarcus, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!

The 2014 Class |