At least some of the mystery surrounding the quarterback position at Southern Miss has dissipated.
On his personal Twitter account Thursday night, Keon Howard announced that he has decided “to not continue my education and football career at The University of Southern Mississippi.” No specific reason for the abrupt departure was given.
It’s assumed that the junior will transfer to another football program, although the quarterback didn’t specifically state that in his social media missive.
Howard engaged in a quarterback competition this past spring with touted junior college transfer Jack Abraham, while Kwadra Griggs, the part-time starter in 2017, continued his recovery from injury.
In 2017, Howard started six games at quarterback for the Golden Eagles -- he started another at wide receiver as well. Howard started the opener but was replaced by Griggs in the second half of that contest, with the latter going on to start the next three games before going down with a wrist injury. Howard started five straight in place of the injured Griggs, but then was replaced the last third of the season after Griggs got healthy.
For the year, Howard completed 96 of his 170 passes for 1,199 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions, while adding 181 yards on 54 carries. For his career, it was 1,564 yards, nine touchdowns and nine picks.