Q&A: Parade All-American headlines 2012 recruiting class for the Miners

    After a successful performance at Pearl High School in Pearl, Miss. freshman guard/forward Twymond Howard was ranked as one of the top 100 prospects from the class of 2012 by ESPN and also named to the Parade All-American team.

Howard was also being recruited by schools such as Baylor, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Tennessee, but he felt El Paso was his home away from home and committed with the Miners.

Q: Why did you choose UTEP?
A: Basically, when I first came in my official (visit), I just felt like I was home. The way (head) coach (Tim) Floyd and his staff came to me they worked hard and they showed me they really want me to play here. They got to speak with my family a lot and connected with my mom really well.

Q: Are you excited to play for UTEP?
A: I’m really excited you know, I’m surrounded by a great group of guys and coach Floyd is great.

Q: How many other schools recruited you?
A: It was a lot of schools, a lot of SEC (South Eastern Conference) schools and even some from the Big Ten, but what really got me was how they called constantly and how they connected with my family really well.

Q: What were your impressions of coach Floyd?
A: I’m really excited, I’ve heard he is a great coach. So I’m just waiting to see what happens.

Q: What’s your biggest strength and weakness?
A: I think my best ability is my driving ability, in the open floor I just drive and it’s hard to stop me and my weakness would be to improve on my range.

Q: What’s your impression of the other freshmen players?
A: (Center) Matt (Willms), he’s real tall, he is a seven footer, so I think he is going to help us a lot, and (forward) Chris (Washburn) he is a big wild body, and (forward) Dustin  (Watts) can shoot really well. I think we’ll do well.

Q: So far, what has been your impression of your teammates?
A: They are fun to be around, we always hang out, and we are really getting to know each other.

Q: UTEP is facing tough opposition like Arizona, UNLV, and Oral Roberts, how do you feel about the schedule?
A: I think it’s going to make the wins even sweeter, we need the gym and
work hard to be able to beat them.

Q: Sophomore guard Julian Washburn said that the team needs to get in shape to be ready to play those teams, do you agree with him?
A: Definitely, we need to get in shape, get our bodies right and focus on being ready for those games.

Q:What are the expectations for this team for the upcoming season?
A: I expect a lot, I want to win just like everyone else, so we need to work hard and hopefully we can get enough Ws.

Edwin Delgado may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.