Michigan Basketball: Why you shouldn’t sleep on Jace Howard

Michigan basketball added three-star Jace Howard as the fourth signee in 2020 and here’s why Wolverine fans shouldn’t sleep on him.

Jace Howard has always been the forgotten member of Michigan basketball‘s 2020 recruiting class and for a time, he was almost relegated to being a walk-on, for at least a year.

But I for one never believed that Howard was going to stay a walk-on for long. It seemed like a temporary move needed to potentially clear scholarship space that ended up not being needed.

After Josh Christopher and Isaiah Todd made the decisions to play elsewhere, Howard was accepted on as a scholarship player and signed last week to play for Michigan basketball and his dad, head coach Juwan Howard.

While some might argue that’s the only reason Jace got a scholarship, that’s not true. Jace did have other Division-I offers and could have played for another program if he wanted to. He’s a 6-foot-7 wing and he averaged around 14 points per game last season in high school, as well as single digits last year in the EYBL according to UMHoops ($).

But Howard is experienced playing against elite competition. He’s also a big kid and while his composite ranking might be outside the top-300, he’s a consensus three-star recruit who ranks 187th overall according to 247 sports, which compares favorably to names like Caris Levert and Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman.

Rahkman was ranked as the 98th-best shooting guard when he joined Michigan basketball as part of the 2014 recruiting class and we all know how his career turned out. He was outside the top-400 nationally. Levert ranked 239th in the composite rankings and was the No. 60 shooting guard, but wasn’t even ranked by 247 sports.

For comparison, Howard is ranked No. 351 overall in the composite rankings and 59th among small forwards. The 247 specific rankings have him nearly 200 spots higher and also lists him 46th among small forwards.

At the very least, Howard should be able to provide a solid presence down the road off the bench. He averaged eight rebounds a game last season, so he can help out there and if he can develop a more consistent 3-point shot, it’s not hard to imagine him at least a rotation player down the road.

So often, people want to focus on the immediate future and while the 2020-21 season will be impacted by the 2020 class, with a guy like Jace Howard, it could a year or two, however, it doesn’t mean he won’t find a way to be a contributor.