Not to read into this too much but he's placed his commitment date a week after his last official visit. He also hasn't been on any of his other official visits. For him to be confident he can make a decision in a week, means to me he's already narrowed it down to 1 or 2 schools (rumors were it's down to us and Miami I think, so that tracks) and he doesn't anticipate the other schools will make the decision any harder.
Likely means in that last week he's only really going to be deciding between us and Miami.
You could be right.
To me I would just read that as he and Coach Willie already have a very good idea of what each school, team, coaching staff, program (including NIL potential) brings to the table. The OVs are just a chance for each to make their best and final pitch.
Path to playing time, path to NFL, path to best NIL, potential to play for a (conf) championship ... these are going to be the serious factors for a major recruit like Howard, is my wild guess.
I don't think he's going to pick Michigan over someone else because of academic ranking, for example.