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MEAC Basketball: Howard Bison finds early success in the transfer portal

By Herbert Seward III

CLEVELAND, OHIO - FEBRUARY 18: Head coach Kenneth Blakeney of Howard University reacts during HBCU practice as part of 2022 All Star Weekend at Wolstein Center on February 18, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - FEBRUARY 18: Head coach Kenneth Blakeney of Howard University reacts during HBCU practice as part of 2022 All Star Weekend at Wolstein Center on February 18, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /
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The Howard Bison are building on the 2021-22 campaign by making substantial recruiting headway in the transfer portal, landing some high-profile additions.

An increasingly familiar theme with the Howard Bison hoops recruiting is the increased effort to keep (or bring) homegrown Washington D.C./Metro talent home. Freshman standout and DeMatha High School product Elijah Hawkins quickly became the best freshman guard in the MEAC last year and one of the better guards on the mid-major basketball scene in general.

Penn graduate transfer Jelani Williams was a double-figure scorer in his senior season with the Quakers. He’s also a native Washingtonian, a product of Sidwell Friends High School, and one of the early high-profile recruiting wins in the Bison’s off-season. Coach Blakeney hit paydirt in the transfer portal a second time by landing former 4-star recruit and University of Maryland combo guard Marcus Dockery.

Dockery had a hard time garnering playing time in Maryland’s crowded backcourt rotation, with the likes of Eric Ayala and Fatts Russell garnering the lion’s share of playing time there. A move to the MEAC to potentially pair with both Hawkins and Williams could result in one of the more potent offensive guard rotations in the conference for 2022-23.

While the DMV to Howard mantra has been a focal point for Bison recruiting strategy, picking up other timely transfer portal targets has also been a priority. Howard may have found one such target of opportunity in former Cornell big man Kobe Dickson.

Outside of now-departed PF Randall Brumant, the Bison struggled to generate consistent post-offense to complement the offensive production they had on the wings and in the backcourt. Dickson could be just what the doctor ordered for Howard in that regard, as Dickson proved to be a pretty slick scoring option for the Big Red last season.

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Summer is officially here and we’re still a few months away from basketball season, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Howard basketball close this off-season in the same kind of impressive fashion they started.