Michigan Basketball: Juwan Howard’s ideal 2020 recruiting class

Jace Howard

While I said that Michigan basketball would have five scholarships available if they went to Jackson, Burnett, Kessler, Barnes and Johnson, there wouldn’t be a scholarship left for Juwan’s three-star son Jace Howard.

Yet, when it comes down to it, that’s the ideal situation for the Wolverines, adding a legitimate D1 talent without having to burn a scholarship if he was to accept being a walk-on. Howard is 6-foot-7 and 200 pounds and is a guy that should be able to flip between the three and the four at the next level.

He has been playing in all of these tournaments, including the NBAPA Top 100. He told the Detroit Free Press that he is trying to mention his dad and Michigan to top players but also was careful to point out that his recruitment is 100 percent wide open.

Howard does have a slew of offers from teams like San Diego State, VCU, Dayton, Saint Louis, Yale and Brown, while Iowa State has expressed interest. If Jace was a four-star prospect and a legit top-50 guy, offering him a scholarship would be a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, he’s not quite that good. He might still be worth an offer but we all know Howard could have his son walk on and save a scholarship for another player. That scenario is a win-win in the sense that Michigan gets another solid player who wouldn’t be just getting a spot because his dad is the head coach.

At the same time though, it’s unclear if Jace would accept that or if he would want to play somewhere else where he had a better shot at more playing time. Over the next few months, we will get a much better idea of how this will all pan out, but for now, this is the ideal class for Michigan.