Mississippi State commit Austin Howard recaps time at Bulldog Bash
2025 Mississippi State commitment Austin Howard was back in friendly territory on Thursday and saw a lot of familiar faces in Starkville. The On3 three-star linebacker from Bartlett (Tenn.) High School was among several Mississippi State commitments in town for Bulldog Bash, the final recruiting event of the summer for Mississippi State.
Howard spent most of his day at head coach Jeff Lebby’s house in a relaxed atmosphere and was able to bond more with his future teammates. Howard is rated as the nation’s No. 71 linebacker and the state’s No. 17 prospect by On3 rankings.
“It was great to be back,” Howard remarked. “I got to see all of the coaches and talk with Coach Lebby and Coach (Coleman) Hutzler a good bit. My favorite part was just being around the recruits and commitments again, and playing basketball with the guys and having a little competition.”
Of course, Howard was able to talk some ball with Hutzler regarding his future at Mississippi State. And it was a conversation that has Howard excited about his future in Hutzler’s defensive scheme at mike linebacker.
“Coach Hutzler said he can’t wait until next year when we get things rolling,” Howard said. “He said he’s ready to coach me next year. Then Coach Lebby was cool and he was hyped to get us back down there. He knows we will do something special when we all get there.”
Howard noted of the other recruits he spent time with on Thursday. The majority of that group also officially visited Mississippi State together in June, which is when Howard flipped his commitment from Vanderbilt to Mississippi State.
“I was with the quarterback commit (Kamario Taylor),” said the 6-foot-3 and 225-pound Howard. “We had Tyler (Lockhart), the Auburn decommitment, was with us and I was with my running back Geron (Johnson). It was great and we got to bond more and talk more about everything.”
This fall, Howard is eager to get back to Davis Wade Stadium to see how Lebby’s initial season at State plays out. He is also intrigued to see what kind of defensive product Hutzler will put on the field this fall.
“We don’t have the dates picked out yet but we will be back there during the season,” noted Howard. “But we will be at some games to check them out. I know Coach Lebby will get that offense going and turn this thing around. And I’m ready to see what Coach Hutzler has going with the defense.”
After initially committing to Vanderbilt in the spring, Howard had a busy time on the recruiting trail this summer. He eventually collected other SEC offers from State, Tennessee and Ole Miss, and also unofficially visited Ole Miss last month.
Ironically, Howard committed to Mississippi State during the same weekend as his teammate – Geron Johnson – did. Playing for the same college wasn’t something they discussed growing up as kids but when Mississippi State provided that chance, they both jumped on it.
“That’s going to be amazing,” Howard mentioned. “Me and Geron will be roommates and getting in workouts every day. It’s going to be something that pushes both of us and make us both better. We never talked about it before this summer and it just came up not long ago. Once we saw the opportunity come up, we knew we had to take it because it will be better for both of us.”
