Noah Collins-Howard has built a pregame routine that is as deliberate as it is personal. He keeps his food intake light so he can “feel light,” studies his old highlights, then eases into the moment with headphones on, starting with calm music before turning up the energy as kickoff gets closer. He prays with his parents, prays again on his own, and finishes it off with a ginger shot.
By the time he steps on the field, he says the mental work is already done.
“I like to just get my mind off the game before the game even starts,” Collins-Howard said.
That mindset has helped shape the Rush-Henrietta Senior High School wide receiver into a three-star recruit and New York’s seventh-best prospect in the 2027 class, according to 247Sports. As a junior, he put together a big all-around season with 28 catches for 445 yards and six touchdowns, while also scoring twice on punt returns and once on a kickoff return.
His athletic range goes beyond football, too. In 2025, Collins-Howard won the New York spring outdoor track state championship in the boys’ 100-meter race and the 4×100-meter relay.
Still, football is the sport that opened the college door. On March 25, he committed to Syracuse, choosing the Orange over offers from Akron, Buffalo, Temple and UMass-Amherst, among others.
“Sky’s the limit for him,” Rush-Henrietta coach Bruce Johnson said.
Collins-Howard’s path started early, back when he was 5 and playing flag football and Pop Warner. He grew up in Henrietta with the same group of friends, then later transferred to the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, where his trainer was also the head coach. He stepped right into a starting role as a freshman and picked up his first Division I offer from Syracuse that same year.
After his sophomore season at Aquinas, though, he came back home to Rush-Henrietta to play alongside the friends he grew up with.
“For him, it was like it was homecoming,” Johnson said.
Home has stayed at the center of his story, and that includes the people around him. His parents, Terrance Collins-Howard and Natalya Collins-Howard, have been part of the routine all along, from praying with him before games to filming him from every angle. That connection helped make Syracuse, about an hour from Henrietta, the natural fit when it came time to choose a college.
“They were pretty much the main school that was always showing me love,” Collins-Howard said. “It feels like family whenever they come up and visit me.”
On the field, Collins-Howard believes his speed will be his biggest calling card at Syracuse. He says it helps him shake defenders in space, while his catch radius gives him a chance to win in traffic.
“You can’t really teach speed,” Collins-Howard said. “It’s something you’re born with.”
Off the field, those around him say the same traits that make him dangerous as a player also make him easy to root for.
“He can fly,” Rush-Henrietta Director of Athletics Jeffrey Onze added. “And he’s humble and kind.”
As captain this season, Collins-Howard has also taken on a leadership role, with Johnson relying on him to help younger teammates and show them the way. But his impact reaches beyond football.
He volunteers at a local food pantry, and a few years ago he traveled on a mission trip to Ghana. There, he and his family helped fund a borehole in a village.
Collins-Howard said the girls in that village used to walk miles for fresh water, which kept them from going to school. With the borehole in place, he said, they can now get an education.
“He can almost not do any harm to anybody,” Johnson said. “(He) just wants to help everybody and just make the world a better place.”
That same mindset is what he hopes to carry with him to Syracuse, where he wants to contribute beyond football as well.
“(Syracuse head coach) Fran Brown does a lot of community service,” Collins-Howard said. “So bringing more of that service to the team, having different experiences like that will also help the team out.”
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