Cyclone Sports Report: So how long has Iowa State been recruiting you?Ricky Howard: I just got a call around the middle of May from Coach Ash. One of our coaches here at Chaffey worked with him at San Diego State and told him about me and so the Iowa State coaches got tape on me. I then started calling Coach Ash about once a week and then they offered me a scholarship about two weeks ago.
CSR: So what led you to commit today?
RH: I actually had no intentions of committing today. I called Coach Rhoads earlier to ask him some questions and he answered all of them and also didn't try and pressure me into a commitment. After I was done I talked things over with my mom and just realized that no other school had treated me like this. They have always been straight up and honest with me so I decided to call him back. I told him that I wanted to commit and he was real cool about it. He told me that I had just made his holiday and then he welcomed me to the Cyclone family.
CSR: So you are fully committed and fully satisfied with Iowa State?
RH: Yeah, I am definitely one hundred percent sure about my decision. I did a lot of research on Iowa State once they started recruiting me and I feel I really fit well there. Once I found out they had the offensive coordinator (Coach Herman) from Rice who set many records with his offense I got really excited. They run the spread and so do we at Chaffey so I feel like I'll be in my comfort zone.
CSR: Are you planning on taking an official visit to Iowa State?
RH: Yeah, I'll be going up there during my bye week this year which will be on October 18th for the Baylor game.
CSR: What did the Iowa State coaches tell you that they liked about your game?
RH: They told me that they liked that I was an all-around tight end. They feel that I can block and they told me that they felt I had hands of a wide receiver.
CSR: Did you have any other offers?
RH: Yeah, I had an offer from Florida International and a lot of other schools were recruiting me but they were saying that they wanted to wait and see what I did this season before offering.
CSR: Do you expect to come in and play right away?
RH: Yeah, I hope to but I think the best thing is that there will definitely be competition and I feel that brings out the best in players.
CSR: Do you know what you want to major in at Iowa State?
RH: Yeah, I'll be majoring in kinesiology.
CSR: How excited are you to know that you will be playing college football in the Big 12 Conference?
RH: It's kind of surreal because the Big 12 is truly one of the best conferences in the country. It's going to be crazy and I can't imagine what it will be like for my first game there.
Ricky is currently 6-foot-5, 255-pounds and last year he made Second Team All National Central Conference. In seven games last year, he had 10 catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns.