Better Know a Freshman: Walker Howard

It’s no secret that LSU has had, even in the post-Les Miles era, difficulty bringing in the highest of high-end high school quarterbacks.

The Story

An LSU legacy and Louisiana native, Walker Howard never felt like he was going anywhere else. He was committed to LSU for a long time and his top receiver from high school (Jack Bech) was already headed there. He flirted a bit with Notre Dame while committed to LSU, but LSU then hired Notre Dame’s coach, so it seems LSU was able to give him both.

The Film

It is impossible to form comprehensive views on players from just highlight tape, but Walker Howard’s highlights are accurately representative of his overall game. Having live-streamed most of his senior season, the high-end accuracy, athleticism, mechanics, arm strength, timing, and processing displayed in his highlights are very present on a down-to-down basis. Walker Howard is legit, and while even extremely talented QBs don’t always pan out for many reasons, we have every reason right now to believe that Jamie’s son is as advertised.

The Future

High End: Redshirts, but wins the starting job in his second year on campus, wins a Heisman trophy at some point and is selected in the top-3 of the draft.

Low End: Garrett Nussmeier, another supremely talented quarterback, breaks out and keeps him on the sideline, he transfers and two schools end up with sensational quarterbacks. Or Howard just fails to translate to the college game and LSU looks to the portal for a QB, but let’s hope a possible “low end” will look like the former.

Realistic: Really, really solid Power 5 quarterback who keeps the offense on schedule, takes care of the football, and makes some plays. Somewhere between Ian Book and Bryce Young, two QBs with similar skillsets and profiles to Howard on either end of the realistic outcome spectrum.