I made the trip to Phoenix over the weekend with 4-star commit Frankie Collins and the majority of Michigan targets participating in the inaugural Border League. This event brought together several powerhouse teams from the West Coast, along with IMG Academy (FL), which features 2022 Jett Howard and several offered prospects.  

The first in a three-part series divvied up by position group, today’s piece will examine the wings/forwards with new film, evaluation and the latest on Michigan’s involvement. Yesterday we touched on Frankie Collins and the guards here.

First Look At Jett Howard

Competition Level: squared off versus 2022 AJ Storr (Bishop Gorman HS/Offers from Virginia Tech and multiple mid-majors), 2021 Providence commit Legend Geeter (Coronado HS) and 2022 Elijah Saunders (Sunnyslope HS)

Stock Status: Same

Evaluation: Having not viewed Jett in person prior to last weekend, I was excited to put eyes on him. Physically he passes the eye test without a doubt. Howard appeared to be a legit 6’5 – 6’6 with good length and a frame capable of adding 15-20 pounds of muscle mass without losing agility. He’s a better athlete than given credit for, with good verticality, nice body control and adequate lateral agility. 

Jett definitely has the look of a wing that projects to be a good shooter at the next level. He has a really smooth release with very good rotation on his shot. Howard appears as though his range can extend out to 28 feet with comfort. All of his attempts from three were quality shots, even though he didn’t necessarily connect at a high percentage. 

Jett isn’t a primary shot creator in the half-court, but he is effective at attacking closeouts and on straight line drives. His long strides aid him in getting by defenders. The possession starting at roughly the :45 second mark really demonstrates this. Howard gets from the corner to the rim in just one dribble for an easy layup. He also moves well without the ball in the half-court, with good situational awareness that allows him to time up cuts to and receive the ball in stride for layups. With his combination of size/length and verticality, there aren’t many bigs that can adequately contest his layups when he gets the ball with a head full of steam. 

The most pleasant surprise for me though was Jett’s ability as a passer. He’s a very good stationary facilitator that can whip passes around and place teammates in position to get easy buckets. While he’s not an on-ball playmaker against a set defense, he did flash the ability to facilitate off the bounce in the open court. 

Defensively, Howard spent the vast majority of his time checking wings and power-forward types in the post. His length is a real plus when contesting jumpers and it allows him to cover a nice amount of space. He also did a great job denying easy post-entry passes by using a ¾ fronting approach and moving his feet to deter easy angles. Jett doesn’t move well enough to defend legit guards and did get blown-by on a few occasions against some of the elite guards at the event. But I definitely like his potential as a wing defender at Michigan. 

Overall, I really liked Jett as a prospect. He’s a shooter with size, athleticism and vision. Howard has very good upside with the potential to be an impact two-way player in Ann Arbor. 

Recruitment: Will inevitably end up in Ann Arbor, but wants to experience the recruiting process before making it official. 

[After THE JUMP: Eric Dailey and a bonus section on Caleb Houstan that you don’t want to miss]

The Versatility of Eric Dailey

Competition Level: squared off versus 2021 Pepperdine commit Carson Basham, 2022 AJ Storr (Bishop Gorman HS/Offers from Virginia Tech and multiple mid-majors) and 2021 Providence commit Legend Geeter (Coronado HS)

Stock Status: Same

Evaluation: This was my second live viewing of Dailey, and he confirmed my original eval from December 2019 at the DC Hoopfest.

Dailey goes about 6’7 with a sturdy frame. He’s a good/very good athlete that moves well in a straight line, has some pop as a leaper with good body control and possesses superior strength in relation to most prospects his age. 

Eric does a bit of everything offensively, but his best asset at this stage of his development is playmaking for others. He finds cutters with no-look dimes when operating in the post, breaks down the defense off the bounce and find bigs when the help arrives and is outstanding as an outlet passer after coming down with defensive boards. 

As a scorer, Dailey is at his best in transition when he can use his verticality to elevate over defenders and finish. He’s an absolute load when he gets a running start. Eric is a very good jumper off either 1 or 2 legs and has the ability to contort his body in the air to create finishing angles. 

In the half-court he’s a capable shooter that can knock down perimeter shots off the catch, but I certainly wouldn’t characterize Dailey as a plus shooter. Eric is likely best utilized as a utility player versus a set defense that gets the ball on the move off designed actions, can face-up against traditional bigs and post-up versus smaller defenders to either score of facilitate the offense. 

He projects as a guy that can defend 3s and 4s on the other end based on his combination of size/strength/athleticism. Dailey moves well enough to defend perimeter oriented wings and is strong enough to match up against bully-ball forwards. 

Eric is appropriately ranked as a high 4-star type to the mainstreams. He’s capable of doing multiple things on offense while having good positional size and athleticism. He projects as an early impact player at the college level that will likely play multiple years. 

Recruitment: Michigan is a serious contender early on, part of an informal top 4 along with Iowa State, Miami and Texas A&M. Playing with Jett Howard at IMG can only help the cause. 

The Latest On 5-Star Caleb Houstan

Over the last month I’ve hinted that Michigan is on solid ground with Montverde Academy 5star wing Caleb Houstan. I’ve been conservative to date based on recent history with 5-stars and will continue to do so.

That said, I checked in with my source yesterday and it seems the Wolverines lead as of right now with an early signing period commitment the tentative plan. 

Michigan, Alabama, Virginia and Duke make up the final four and Houstan gave standard fluff on each program in his SI blog last week. Perhaps more importantly, Caleb suggested my early signing period intel may indeed be true:

“I don’t really have a set time to commit, but I’d like to try and get it done before my season officially starts, which would be mid to late November.”

I don’t have the ability to place crystal balls on 247, but I would be close to putting in a low confidence CB in favor of Michigan if I did.

Recruiting is fluid though, so my intel in two weeks may paint a very different picture. In any event, we should all brace for another roller coaster ride on the 5star express that may end up in disappointment yet again. As I say though, put yourself in enough races and eventually you pull one out.