Michigan Basketball: Does Howard know something on Franz Wagner?

There has been a lot of talk about Juwan Howard committing a violation when he talked about Franz Wagner. But does he know something we don’t?

When Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard did a radio interview with the Sklar brothers earlier this week, many thought he committed a minor NCAA violation when he started speaking about Franz Wagner.

Franz Wagner is the younger brother of former Michigan basketball star Moritz Wagner and has been a top recruiting target of both John Beilein and now Howard for the 2019 class.

Wagner recently completed his season for his professional team in Germany, Alba Berlin and he is said to make a decision soon between Michigan and re-signing with his current team.

Yet, at this point, Wagner has yet to make a commitment to Michigan basketball, which is why Howard isn’t supposed to talk about him and why many believed, on the spot, it was a violation.

However, Sam Webb of 247 sports says otherwise. He had previously reported that Franz Wagner had signed a financial aid tender with Michigan, something he says is non-binding. It’s different than a letter of intent and essentially gives Wagner wiggle room to change his mind.

Basically, he was reporting that Wagner was taking the steps to get into the University, which we have heard from others. But if Webb is correct and he reiterated his view with this post ($) then Howard didn’t do anything wrong.

Webb said his sources at the school said that Howard was good in terms of a violation and even when he was talking about Franz, it struck me then that he might have reason to believe he can.

The school also hasn’t released anything to confirm that Howard did break a rule and with its past, you would think it would be quick to self-report and get ahead of it if a rule was broken.

There has been a lot of confidence that Michigan basketball was going to eventually land Wagner, even from Howard, if you believe some of the whispers circulating the internet. But it’s more than that, it’s just a feeling that has been coming out of Ann Arbor, kind of like a hidden secret.

This tidbit from Webb certainly adds to that idea. Otherwise, it seems like a pretty foolish mistake for Howard to make. Yes, the NCAA recruiting rule book is complicated. But not talking about un-signed players is pretty simple.

Howard talked about incoming freshman Cole Bajema at his press conference but he signed his letter of intent, so he could. Howard hasn’t made that mistake with any other player and with his intelligence, I find it hard to believe he just slipped up with the Sklar brothers.

If you take that along with Webb is reporting, it seems to lend credence to the idea that Franz Wagner is indeed coming to Ann Arbor very soon.