Michigan Basketball: Could Jace Howard end up with Wolverines?

Could new Michigan basketball head coach Juwan Howard bring his son, Jace Howard, a three-star small forward in 2020, to the Wolverines?

When it comes to the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes, Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard has been busy reaching out to prospects and making offers.

Howard and the rest of the Michigan basketball staff were at the NBAPA Top 100 camp last week and it turns out that Juwan wasn’t the only Howard in attendance. His son, Jace Howard, a three-star forward from 2020 took part as a player.

Since Howard took the job at Michigan, you wondered if his sons would follow. There are two left that will be playing college hoops. Jace, a three-star, is one of them. He has offers from San Diego State and Dayton, while also getting recruited by John Beilein and UM for the last year.

His brother Jett Howard could be a five-star recruit and looks to be one of the top players in 2022. Surely, with the way Juwan is offering five-stars, you can expect an early offer to his son Jett. But when it comes to Jace, the picture isn’t quite so clear.

Obviously, Jace Howard is a legitimate college prospect. SDSU and Dayton are decent programs, but you have to ask is he going to be worth a scholarship offer? If he was willing to join the program as a walk-on, that would be ideal. But if he wants a full-ride, I don’t know if Michigan is the place for him.

When it comes to 2020, the Wolverines could have as many as five scholarships available and maybe more if there is some kind of attrition such as with Austin Davis, who seems destined to finish his career with Michigan basketball riding the pine.

If Davis chose to leave and Michigan doesn’t add any more scholarships in the 2019 class, that would give Howard six scholarships to offer. More than likely though, that numbers end up being five. It just seems more reasonable and there is still some hope for Franz Wagner in 2019.

Howard recently spoke to UMHoops.com and said that his recruitment was still open. He also said he wasn’t really sure what his status was with Michigan going forward.

“They’re up there, they’re up there for sure,” Howard said. “I’ve got a lot of in-home influences of Michigan. I’m going to be hearing it a lot in the next couple months, for sure. My recruitment’s still 100 percent open, not going to say anything yet, but yeah. They’re definitely up there.”

Jace also has offers from Northern Illinois and St. Louis according to UMHoops, pushing his total to four DI offers. And while Michigan adding a three-star as it did with Adrien Nunez in 2019 isn’t a bad thing, if Howard decides he wants to play for Michigan, a walk-on route might be best.