LSU QB Commit Walker Howard Comes in at No. 7 on SI All-American Recruiting Rankings

Howard has opportunity to improve in rankings by cleaning up a few areas in his game

Walker Howard has been one of the premier arms in the 2022 class for the last couple of years. The LSU commit has been taking part in camps and recruiting circuits across the country, most recently at the Elite 11 in California. 

Howard, who tossed for 3,049 passing yards with a 66.0% completion percentage and 35 touchdowns en route to a state title as a junior. One of 25 quarterbacks who competed in the Elite 11 camp a week ago, Howard proved to be among the best in the country, earning a top 10 finish in the competition according to the SI All-American crew.

Being fully committed to making the 2022 class another top three class for Ed Orgeron and company, Howard recently told LSU Country one of his goals is to be that leader of the class, much like Garrett Nussmeier was for the 2021 group. 

"Quarterback position is one of the most important, he's a leader, a guy that gets everybody together," Howard said. "Make sure everybody's doing their job and that's what I'm gonna try to do, get all of my recruits together and all of my future teammates.

"The biggest thing for me right now, is having a great senior season. I'm a senior leader now and everybody's going to look up to me on and off the field. My first priority is my high school but whenever I can go to LSU, I'm going to be there."

Here's what the SI All-American crew had to say about the LSU commit and his performance at the Elite 11:

If you’re someone who loves power throwers then you are likely a big fan of Howard. Despite being just 6-1 and 195 pounds, Howard has one of the strongest arms in the class. His ability to power the ball down the field, both with deep balls over the top of the defense and driving 25-30 routes on a line, is outstanding. 

Howard is a confident quarterback that knows he has a strong arm, and he’s not afraid to use it to attack tight zones, the outside zones and his ability to throw on the run is impressive. Howard needs to put a bit more touch on the ball at times, and at times his ball placement gets spotty when sitting in the pocket. He’s not someone that is going to run for a bunch of yards at the next level, but he’s a quality athlete that can take advantage of open rush lanes and he can move the chains on certain designed runs as well, although with his lack of size I doubt his future colleges will want to subject him to a bunch of run game hits.

Howard can go through bouts of inaccuracy, and there are two technical aspects that tends to be the fuel behind that. At times Howard will wind up too much and really try to power the ball, or to say a different way, at times he tries to throw serious fastballs. When that happens he tends to either over stride or his grip is so tight that it will alter his release point and drive the ball down. When he misses deep its due to him dipping his back shoulder too much, which again alters his release point and causes him to miss wide down the field. Clean those two areas up and he’s going to be even better.