Howard's death leaves football team in shock

It’s a mantra that University of Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall offers up to his players throughout each practice in the days leading up to a game:

“Play every play like it’s your last.”

Jasper Howard took those words to heart during Saturday’s Big East Conference game against Louisville at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

The junior cornerback from Miami collected a career-high 11 tackles, including seven solo stops, and recovered a fumble that he forced to thwart a promising drive by Louisville’s offense midway through the third quarter.

“Coach is always telling us, play every play like it’s your last one,” Howard said moments after his Huskies wrapped up a 38-25 victory over Cardinals. “That’s just what I did today.”

Hours later, Howard was dead, the victim of a stabbing in the early-morning hours Sunday following a school-sponsored party at the Student Union on the UConn campus.

A Husky football family that was celebrating a huge victory was left to mourn a charismatic 20-year-old friend and teammate who left his native Miami to avoid just such violence.

Edsall drove to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center early Sunday after Howard, who was first taken to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, was then airlifted to Hartford.

At 4:30 a.m., Edsall was then summoned to the operating room where he was asked to identify Howard’s body.

“Whenever the phone rings after midnight, it’s never good,” Edsall said during a Sunday afternoon press conference at the Burton Family Football Complex. “I got over to St. Francis Hospital at around 1:40 in the morning and there were already some of Jasper’s friends and teammates there trying to get information on the health of their friend. The people at St. Francis were great and I basically was just trying to comfort everyone there for Jasper.

“I stayed in contact with Jasper’s mother throughout the morning, keeping her informed as to what was going on. At around 4:30, I was called into the operating room to identify the body. Then I got on the phone with the doctor and we had to make a phone call to Jasper’s family. I then went down and addressed the student-athletes who were there and, needless to say, that was not a very enjoyable moment. I let them know what we were going to do to get through this terrible tragedy that happened to a great young man.”

Howard was excelling this season in UConn’s secondary, ranking third on the team with 35 tackles. And the 5-10, 180-pound speedster also returned 16 punts for 146 yards through six games, an average of 9.1 yards per return.

But it was Howard’s progress in the classroom and within the UConn community that drew the most praise from Edsall and his teammates.

“Jazz grew so much in the two and a half years that he was here,” said Edsall.

“The strides that he made, not only as a player, but as a person, is just incredible. You could tell a huge difference this year in the way Jasper played. You could see how much his maturity level and willingness to play as part of a team had improved.

“They don’t come any better than Jazz.”

Senior punter Desi Cullen, one of Edsall’s four captains this season, was chosen to address the media on behalf of the team Sunday.

“Speaking for the team, as part of the family, we’ve been grieving quite a bit,” said Cullen, who broke down repeatedly and was consoled by Edsall at the podium. “I came here thinking the tough part was over, but it’s not. That just goes to show you the bond that you create as a teammate. It shows you the impact he made, not only on me, but on every individual in the program.

“You may come here from a tougher background that doesn’t have the same level of support or family as everyone else, but when you come here and invest the time and effort, you create a bond that can never be broken. That’s one of the things that Jazz achieved while he was here – a bond with us that will never be broken or forgotten.”

Howard arrived at UConn after a standout scholastic career at Miami Edison High School, where he served as a team captain as a senior, earning All-Dade County honors as a defensive back while also hauling in 27 catches for 604 yards and seven touchdowns as a starting wide receiver for coach Corey Bell, now the director of football operations at the University of Miami.

“He was really starting to come into his own,” Bell told the Miami Herald. “A lot of kids who don’t end up coming here need to get out of Miami to get away from things in their neighborhood.

“You coach them up to do the right thing and make the right decisions when trouble starts. I know Jazz. He knew how much his family was depending on him. When you get a phone call like this, it just breaks your heart.”

Joangila Howard received a call from her son shortly after Edsall awarded him the defensive game ball following the win over Louisville.

“All he wanted to do was just make a career of his life and help me. That’s all he used to tell me,” Joangila Howard told CBS-4 in Miami. “They took him away from me.”

And the still-at-large assailant also took a father away from a child. Three weeks ago, Jasper and his girlfriend learned she is pregnant.

“Hearing the news that he’s going to be a father breaks my heart,” said Cullen. “The idea that he will grow up without a father to raise him will be extremely tough for that child.

“Along with Jazz looking down on him, that child will have 105 uncles to look up to. As a team, we’re going to make sure that we don’t just get through these times, but that we grow from it and become better men because of Jazz.”