Jon Scheyer has his first building block for Duke basketball’s 2026 recruiting class with the commitment of five-star small forward Bryson Howard.
Howard announced his commitment to the Blue Devils on Tuesday, Oct. 21, giving Scheyer and the Blue Devils their first pledge of the cycle. Now entering his fourth season at Duke, Scheyer has already established himself as one of college basketball’s elite recruiters, landing the nation’s top-ranked classes in each of the past two years – and Howard could be the start of another.
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A Frisco, Texas, native out of Heritage High School, the 6-foot-5, 188-pound wing is the son of former NBA All-Star Josh Howard. He chose Duke over other offers from Kentucky and North Carolina after taking visits to each school.
Howard went from being unranked to now being the top-rated prospect in Texas and the No. 4 small forward in the 2026 class, ranked No. 12 nationally by the 247Sports Composite. He was in Durham for an official visit on Sept. 19.
Duke basketball will take the court for its first of two preseason exhibitions on Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium against UCF. The Blue Devils will then play their final exhibition at Tennessee on Sunday, Oct. 26, before opening the regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 4 vs. Texas at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Bryson Howard becomes Duke basketball, Jon Scheyer’s first 2026 pledge
