Anyone who has watched Melbourne at all this season knows that is an unusual sight.
With a leap that would allow him to eyeball a pole vault champion and the timing of a jazz drummer he earned eight mark of the round nominations in 2012.
His mark over the Swans' Heath Grundy in round 8 was a classic.
But in a post-season chat he chooses a flat word to describe the season: disappointing.
It's a fair assessment from the team-oriented 22-year-old who sums where it ended up pretty well. "A good learning point was to finish against two teams that were playing finals," Howe said.
"It gave us a judgement on where we need to get to."
Watch some of Jeremy Howe's big grabs
However Howe would be entitled to be satisfied with his own performance.
While high marking was the aspect of his game that earned him enough fame to cop some ribbing off teammates - a signal of the reverse, perverse, somewhat reassuring way such things work - it was overall effort that won him respect.
He played all 22 games, battling hard against the odds. While a midfielder for most of the season, he plugged gaping holes up forward too.
It was his brilliant goal from the boundary against Essendon that got the team rolling towards its first win for the season in round 10.
His third-man up efforts late in the season improved the team's work at stoppages.
And the benefits of a second pre-season were evident to him and he imagines the benefits will grow as each year passes.
There were times in 2011 Howe admits he felt as though he was on a treadmill. He knew where he needed to get to but his legs would not take him, however that feeling nearly disappeared in 2012.
"This year I felt like I was getting to more contests," Howe said. "But there is still plenty of fitness to work on."
He is learning how to use his energy more efficiently too, developing his understanding of running patterns with Nathan Jones. "There's nothing worse than feeling like you are running around all day and you just can't get the ball," Howe said.
That's a feeling sadly familiar to more than one AFL footballer.
Howe doesn't do much work on his marking but his explanation underlines the simplicity of his approach.
"I pretty much think that no-one is around the ball but me so if I think I can get it I will have a run and jump and get it," Howe said.
In the second half of the year he encountered opposition tactics to stop his run and knows it is something he will have to get used to. Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell was particularly relentless on Queen's Birthday and told Howe after the game he would do anything to prevent him from jumping. "I think 'fair enough'," Howe said.
The laconic approach hides the competitive nature. A good sportsman, handy at golf and most sports he turns his hand to, he lost confidence in his set shot kicking for goal. It was the one negative aspect of his game in 2012, a component that he readily admits was "shocking".
"I pride myself with my goalkicking and have had opportunities where I should be kicking goals and I just haven't," Howe said.
"Definitely my confidence just wasn't there so I have been working heavily on that and that is going to be one of my main focuses (for next year) because to miss an easy opportunity is deflating for myself and the group."
