Preston Howard on transfer back to Maryland football: "it felt weird not being here"

Ahmed Ghafir
Apr 25
2 min read

After spending his first three seasons in College Park, tight end Preston Howard found himself checking how the freshmen wave fared with Maryland football during the 2025 season. Yet watching the games left him questioning about life back at home.

“It's always been in the back of my mind, just watching the games all year, missing my friends, the relationships we build here. And just watching the games, it was like it felt weird not being here,” he said after Saturday’s Spring Showcase.

After redshirting in 2022, Howard totaled 349 receiving yards and one touchdown during his two seasons at Maryland before opting to hit the transfer portal ahead of the 2025 season. The quick portal process led the 6-foot-5 former quarterback to Auburn where he struggled in what proved to be his lone season with the program, amassing 84 yards on ten catches.

When the transfer portal window opened back up, Howard wasted no time stepping back into the portal a second time. While several Power Four schools showed interest the first time, Howard wasn’t interested in any other school in his second and final stint in the portal with his focus solely on Maryland.

“I kind of knew I was coming back right away. We were in conversations. And I love this place, like honestly, this is home, this where all my family's at. I kind of knew - it wasn't really any other option for me,” he added.

Howard arrives in College Park as part of what could be a strong tight end room alongside Dorian Fleming, AJ Szymanski and JT Taggart where the McDonogh product adds versatility to the passing attack. Getting settled back into his role in the passing attack was something Howard looked forward to getting back into through the 15 practices in spring ball after being “so honed in on blocking and focused on blocking” during his time at Auburn. Yet the rising senior also put a premium on developing “my leadership skills.”

“Just being a guy in the locker room coming back. It wasn't much to get back. I feel like the guys gave me a lot of respect coming back. But for me, it was more just being a leader, coaching up the guys that I can coach up in the younger guys and getting them ready to go,” Howard added.

One key difference for Howard is the offensive scheme given the tight end’s last season in College Park was spent during the final and brief season under Josh Gattis. With Clint Trickett months into his new role as offensive coordinator, Howard pointed to “tempo” as the biggest difference between the 2024 and 2026 offense.

“We're going really fast this year, and I think that's good. But also just the playmakers we have. I mean, we've always had playmakers, but having a guy like Malik at quarterback, it makes a real difference in just doing everything,” Howard said. “You want one of those five star guys [as] your quarterback, and seeing him last year, just seeing the throws he's made, the way he’s so calm and practice and just always seems to stay level. It's really good to see.”

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