Juwan Howard's Reputation As A Recruiter Not Damaged By Recent Developments
Juwan Howard got his first major taste of defeat on the recruiting trail last night when five-star Joshua Christopher spurned the Wolverines for Arizona State. Fast forward to just a little bit ago, and Michigan also lost five-star pledge Isaiah Todd who will play overseas instead of in college. Both developments are huge bummers, but they do not come close to defining Howard as a recruiter. Recruiting is cutthroat and the best of the best take some losses from time to time and last night's miss won't be Howard's last. He has already proven to be pretty damn good at that part of the job and he'll get many more opportunities to win those battles.
Jason Jordan is Sports Illustrated's director of recruiting so he's heard a lot about Howard when it comes to the Fab Fiver's prowess as a recruiter. The pain from the swing and miss on Christopher and the loss of Todd will fade, but Howard's ability to bring talent to Ann Arbor is only going to grow.
"Every kid I talk to loves Juwan Howard or, their dad loves Juwan Howard," Jordan explained. "Juwan is a players’ coach. Kids talk to him one time, even on the phone, literally, one time, and Michigan is on the list. He’s done an amazing job in year one. You couldn’t script a foundation for future recruiting and a reputation, which is everything, any better."
Jordan even broke down a specific case where Michigan flew up a star's leaderboard all because of Howard.
"I can give you a great example," Jordan said. "Michigan wasn’t even on the list for [five-star power forward] Greg Brown early on. Then, his dad was like, ‘No, they’re on the list now because Juwan’s there.’ That's really all it was — no other factors."
Howard is personal friends with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He has two sons who are currently recruits in their own right. He's part of the most iconic college basketball troop in the history of the sport. Couple those things with the type of reputation, personality and approach that Howard has and he's going to get into any living room he wants.
The dude has it.
Howard making Christopher a priority so early is the sole reason that the Wolverines were even involved in the first place. He's also the reason Todd committed to the Wolverines when he did. Does it suck that U-M lost out on rare talents like Christopher and Todd so late in the game? Absolutely. But if you hear people talk about Howard, you know there will be plenty of reasons to celebrate in the future.
