Player Spotlight: Omar Howell

HOWELL

LOOKING TO DOMINATE IN ENCORE SEASON

By JARED REDDING

Oxford Eagle

Senior running back Omar Howell saved his best football for the postseason last year.

Down three points against Clinton in the 6A North Half Championship game, Howell simply refused to let his team lose. He took the ball nearly every snap en route to a go ahead score with 3:01 to play and a 218 yard rushing performance, giving Oxford a chance to defend their 6A state title.

“Coach (Jason) Wilfawn helped me out a lot getting ready for the playoffs with the conditioning and all those things we do together, especially with Roman (Gregory) going down. (Cutcliffe) trusted me, and I just had to go out there and do something, to make a play,” Howell said.

Expectations are even higher for Howell in his final ride as a Charger, not only to replicate last season’s dominance in the second half, but to take some pressure off Michael Harvey and Trip Maxwell’s shoulders, working with a brand new group of receivers. However, he isn’t the only one willing to contribute.

“We’re going to try and make Roman (Gregory) an all-purpose back this year, get him involved in the passing game while I try to dominate in the run game, especially in the second half. Tracy

Harris is a blend of both of those, so that’ll really help us a lot. Now that we had a spring, we get to see what he can do. This year, he’ll help us out a lot, especially with our lack of receivers.”

Howell tallied 925 yards on 193 carries while rushing for 11 scores last season behind an offensive line that will have two of its leaders, Stratton Smith and Bryce Mullen back in the fold this year. All three headline a senior class that is looking to be just the second class in school history to appear in three straight state championship games.

“Our class might not be the most athletic, but we’re probably the hardest working class to ever come through Oxford,” Howell said. “You hear (Cutcliffe) talk a lot, we’re out here every day putting in extra work. There are definitely higher expectations than in previous years. Us as a senior class, we know what we have to do, but at the same time, have fun and not put too much pressure on ourselves.”

Looking back on his career at Oxford, nothing has been more impactful than a system in place to create program camaraderie, accountability, sustainability and consistency on and off the football field.

“Coach (Cutcliffe) plays a big part in all of this because people love playing for him,” Howell said. “He has us doing certain things that other teams don’t do like our ‘Charger For Life’ program, our leadership council. He makes us do small, mental things that gets us better and bring us together. I think the difference in between these teams and previous teams is that we’ve been more together socially outside of football. That’s what has played a bigger part."

It doesn’t get much harder than this season. A transition to 6A Region 2 and a non-region slate with the likes of Brandon, South Panola, Lafayette and national power John Curtis Christian should prove to be a non stop grind from August to November.

“I think most of us are excited about the opportunity to be able to play teams of that caliber,” Howell said. “It up to us to send a statement early that we can hang with anyone.”