East Meck's Howard proves his worth against the best

I was impressed with the performance of East Mecklenburg junior RB Ronald Howard in last Friday’s game with Butler. Facing a superior defense, he dipped and darted, sprinted and squirmed his way to 133 rushing yards and a TD on 19 carries. Many of those runs would have ended in tackles for loss but for Howard’s obvious elusiveness. And he reminded me of Butler’s Anthony Short with his speed and ability to run in space.

If there’s a problem here as far as recruiting goes, it’s that Howard is listed as 5-foot-6 and 155 pounds.

While he has no official offers yet, coach Greg Hill said, “A lot of people are talking. The majority that are talking are I-AAs (FCS schools); they are really heavy on him. The 1-As are saying they don’t know if they’ll make him a full-ride offer because of size.

“But they are saying that if he can show the ability to play special teams—kick returns, punt returns, that type of stuff—then maybe they can work him in on offense.”

Hill paused.

“He’s just very gifted. It’s a shame that we don’t have enough around him right now. God’s been very good to that kid.”

And as a junior, he also has a year to grow.

--Stan Olson