Basketball season is getting ever closer, and 2026 four-star wing Bryson Howard is preparing to meet with coaches around the country as he looks to take the next step towards putting on his dad’s sneakers. The son of a former NBA All-Star (Josh Howard), Howard went from being unranked in May to moving into the top-15 of his class. Following his rapid rise, Rivals national analyst Jamie Shaw says two teams to watch in the 17-year-old’s recruitment are heavyweight programs Houston and Kentucky.
2 Teams To Watch For 4-Star Prospect Bryson Howard
In 2025-26, Howard will be a standout senior at Heritage High School in Frisco (TX). As a junior, he averaged 25.9 minutes, 17.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.4 blocks per game as a junior (h/t MaxPreps). In that 2024-25 campaign, he connected on 47.8 percent of his field goal attempts, though he converted just 25.7 percent of his 3s. He also shot 71.9 percent from the free-throw line, which inspires confidence in his ability to improve beyond the arc.
As a team, Heritage had a tremendous season, going 32-5 overall.
Offer Sheet Grows
In Rivals recent update of its 2026 rankings, Howard landed at No. 11 overall, No. 4 at small forward and No. 1 in Texas. Both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and Rivals Industry Ranking place him in the top-26 nationally in the 2026 recruiting cycle. ESPN also recently refreshed its rankings for the Class of 2026. Howard checked in at No. 20 around the country, and he was just one spot away from being a five-star prospect, according to this recruiting service.
To date, Howard has landed more than 20 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs. They include Tennessee, UConn, Kentucky, Houston, Duke, Texas, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Baylor, Georgetown, Indiana, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, NC State, Oklahoma, Oregon, SMU, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. 11 of those teams have extended an offer to Howard since May.
Shaw notes that Howard has scheduled eight official visits. This weekend, he made plans to visit Texas A&M. On the heels of that trip, he’d arrive on the campuses of North Carolina, Texas, Duke, Houston, Kentucky, UConn and Tennessee. Suffice it to say, that’s a stellar list of suitors.
All of that being said, Howard’s father grew up in North Carolina and was a highly decorated player by the time he left Wake Forest. As such, keep an eye on the Demon Deacons and Tar Heels, too.
AAU Circuit Star
This year, Howard competed for the Dallas-based ProSkills 17U team in the Nike EYBL. Simply put, he was one of the best all-around players in the league during the latest AAU season. In the EYBL’s regular season, he averaged 21.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 blocks per game.
Bryson Howard shot 45% from 3 and has a +7 wingspan. That is incredibly rare at this age. https://t.co/Qnyx7Ef9mJ
— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) July 24, 2025
Last month, at the EYBL’s annual season-ending Peach Jam tournament in North Augusta (SC), Howard played a key role as ProSkills reached the quarterfinals in the main 17U division. In one contest, Howard scored a ridiculous 37 points on 14-of-19 shooting from the field. Over six games, he averaged 19.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest.
For the entire EYBL campaign this spring and summer, Howard averaged an impressive 20.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 1.5 assists and 0.9 blocks per encounter. With that in mind, The Circuit’s scouting experts have dished out their awards for the latest EYBL season. After his magnificent performance, the Circuit named Howard to its All-EYBL first team and its All-Defensive squad.
© Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
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