He hates it. He knows it’s coming, but the agitation is still there.
Every day when he walks into class or strolls through campus, North Carolina junior receiver Bug Howard is asked the one question he absolutely can’t stand.
“Do you play basketball?”
At 6-foot-5 with a wide wingspan and hands almost the size of a football, people easily envision Howard on the hardwood as opposed to the gridiron. But after gaining some weight this past offseason, he looks to prove football suits him best.
When Howard arrived at UNC as a freshman in 2013, he weighed only 195 pounds. But what the lanky receiver lacked in girth, he made up for in athleticism.
“He is a freak,” said senior receiver Quinshad Davis. “(He is) 6-foot-5 with a 40.5-inch vertical, he can run and he has like 11-inch hands. What more can you ask for in a receiver? He’s a great competitor, and he’s got all of the talent in the world.”
Despite being unable to escape the basketball player stereotype, Howard credits his early hoops career for the skills he displays on the football field.
Even when he talks about the benefits of his athleticism at the receiver position, he can’t help but use basketball terms.
“My athletic ability of jumping, running and being big — having an advantage over smaller corners, getting in front of those corners, boxing them out and going up and getting the ball like it’s a rebound — I pride myself on that,” he said.
