LSU transfer Jaxon Howard commits to Minnesota

LSU transfer edge defender Jaxon Howard officially committed to the Gophers Friday. The 6-foot-4, LB appeared in 75 career snaps for LSU through two seasons with the program. Coming out of high school, 247sports ranked him as the No. 131 overall player in the country — one of the highest-ranked national recruits to ever come out of the state. His final decision out of high school came down to Minnesota, Miami (FL) and Michigan before originally settling on the Tigers.

BREAKING: Former LSU EDGE Jaxon Howard has Committed to Minnesota, he tells @on3sports

The 6’4 248 EDGE will have all 4 years of eligibility remaining

“I’m back 612”https://t.co/hwloZKoc0V pic.twitter.com/hzckOIDZIy

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 19, 2024

What’s Next?

Last season at LSU, Howard played on only 30 defensive snaps, earning a 42.2 PFF Grade. The Tigers are obviously loaded with NFL talent along the defensive line, so a redshirt freshman having a minimal role should not come as a huge surprise. The edge defender position was not a huge position of need for Minnesota with Jah Joyner, Jalen Logan-Redding, Danny Striggow and Anthony Smith all returning, so I am very curious to see how defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere decides to use Howard.

Listed at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds he has a very similar physical profile to that of Boye Mafe. With new defensive coordinator Corey Heatherman, the Gophers could opt to switch up their defensive scheme and run a 5-3 and maybe deploy Howard and Joyner as standup OLBs with Logan-Redding and Striggow as 5-tech DEs with Smith rotating in. Good coaches play to their personnel and that could make a lot of sense.

Overall, having too much talent, especially on the defensive line is a great problem to have. Less than five years into his coaching career DeLattiboudere has proven to be one of the best recruiters in the conference and one of the brightest young head coaches in the country. He is the type of coach that Fleck needs to do everything he can to keep in Minnesota.

Fleck and his staff have been on a tremendous run this offseason and they deserve a ton of credit for how they’ve upgraded the personnel up and down this roster. After going 6-7 last year, they need they needed to make huge changes and they’ve done just that.