Report: Indiana transfer RB Trent Howland to visit Ole Miss

The Ole Miss Rebels are hosting an important football prospect from the transfer portal on Monday. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, former Indiana tailback Trent Howland, the Hoosiers’ leading rusher, will visit Oxford on Monday. He also has a number of other visits lined up including Duke, UCF, and Oklahoma State. That news was relayed by his reps, Kyle Logan and Marlon Lindsey from Code Sports Group.

The new Indiana coaching staff brought in four new tailback prospects through the transfer portal this offseason and Howland didn’t appear to be a part of their future plans. Curt Cignetti brought in Ty Son Lawton, Kaelon Black, Elijah Green, and Justice Ellison.

Ole Miss capped off yet another impressive season this year, finishing 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the SEC. This upcoming season, the Rebels will look to take the next step and see if they can make the College Football Playoff. This will be the first year the CFP field has been expanded to 12 teams.

In 2023, Howland had 75 carries for 354 yards and two touchdowns for the Hoosiers. He verbally committed to Minnesota in December, but had a change of heart, before ultimately deciding to jump back in the portal recently. In two of his last three games this year, he rushed for over 70 yards and scored a touchdown on the ground. He’s one of the bigger running back prospects in the portal, tipping the scales at 6-foot-3, 240 pounds.

Indiana had an awful season this year, finishing with a 3-9 overall record and a 1-8 record in the Big Ten Conference. One of their bright spots was a 20-14 win over the Wisconsin Badgers. The Hoosiers did have to deal with some very close losses, losing all three of their final three games by four points or less.

Linebacker Aaron Casey was the team-leader in tackles, racking up 109 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Wide receiver Donaven McCulley had a decent year, too. He hauled in 48 catches for 644 yards and six touchdowns, despite the Hoosiers struggling to find any sort of decent options at the quarterback position.

Coming out of Joliet West High School, Howland was rated as the No. 891 overall player in the country, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He was also ranked as a three-star prospect in the 2021 cycle. His junior season, Howland was named the Southwest Prairie Conference Most Valuable Player.

Not only that, he helped guide the program to their first conference championship in 50 years, after he rushed for 1,401 yards on 178 carries (7.9 yards per carry) with 14 touchdowns. Against Plainfield Central, Howland had 301 rushing yards and piled up five touchdowns. He also lettered in basketball in high school.