Jerry Howard showed his skills as a hard runner during 2017 spring camp and played himself into the number two spot behind KirVonte Benson. He showed a talent as the wrecking ball style of runner that Paul Johnson looks for at the B-back position. At the end of spring camp last season his weakness was in pass blocking and knowing where to be on plays.
He saw significant time in 2017 in his back up role scoring two touchdowns to put him in third behind TaQuon Marshall and KirVonte Benson in rushing scores on the team.