Some schools are already bringing prospects on campus for official visits, but most programs are waiting until June to have recruits take those official trips. The next month will be a busy one for Las Vegas-Spring Valley defensive lineman Kelze Howard as he packs in four official visits over the course of June.

Right now he is set to open the month with an official visit to Arizona in the first week of June. That will be followed by official visits to Oregon (June 10), Nebraska (June 17) and Utah (June 24).

Setting up those official visits coincides with Howard narrowing his focus to eight schools earlier this month. At this point Arizona, USC, Oregon, Utah, Oregon State, Nebraska, Michigan and Miami are the schools still in the running.

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive end says he is not opposed to changing up his list moving forward, but he is focusing on those eight schools as it stands right now. Reaching that group of eight took some work for Howard, but ultimately unofficial visits earlier in the year helped him figure out the top schools in his recruitment.

“I will say, it was really difficult actually, because I didn’t really know who I wanted in my top eight” he said about narrowing the process. “I had to really go back on everything and every conversation that I had with a coach. What I didn’t like and what I did like about everything and everybody, so that’s how I got to my conclusion.”

Howard has been able to take several unofficial visits throughout the offseason, and that helped position some programs in a better spot than others. Having sit-down meetings with coaches and understanding their vision for him helped clear up some of the decision-making process when putting together his list.

“It’s really just the schools that have a plan for me and know what they want to do with me, rather than just offering just because,” Howard said about his top eight.

Arizona is one of the schools that helped itself quite a bit when Howard made it on campus for an unofficial visit this spring. The Wildcats continue to look to bolster their defensive line after a strong offseason. The 2023 defensive lineman left his previous trip to Tucson impressed by what head coach Jedd Fisch is building in the desert.