Over the weekend, Westland John Glenn High School center Mike Edwards took an unofficial visit to the Michigan campus, John Glenn coach Rod Watts confirmed Monday.
Called a "late bloomer" by Watts, Edwards is 6-foot-9 and roughly 220 pounds. He is unranked by Rivals.com and Scout.com and ranked by 247Sports as the 344th-ranked player in the 2015 class (No. 33 center, No. 6 in Michigan).
While the Wolverines have not offered a scholarship to Edwards, many others have, including Georgia, Kansas State, Nebraska, Marquette, Illinois State, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois and Ball State, and others, according to Watts. Edwards has taken one official visit to Northern Illinois, while unofficially visiting Boston College, Bowling Green, Ball State and EMU. Missouri visited Westland last week to see him work out.
As of last summer, Edwards only held a scholarship offer from Akron.
Then he bloomed. After averaging under five points and five rebounds per game as a junior, Edwards averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks this season as a senior.
"Big guys sometimes develop late and Mike is one of those guys who has continued to work and just gotten better and better each month," Watts said. "He's getting the attention he deserves. He's hard-working and has a very high ceiling."
Michigan hosted Edwards at its annual College Practice Camp last June. According to Watts, U-M coaches were impressed and visited Westland in September to see Watts in an open workout. At the time, the U-M staff told Edwards if he wanted to sign a scholarship offer early, they wouldn't be able to offer. If he wanted to wait until the late signing period, however, they told him there might be the possibility of an offer.
Now Edwards will learn soon enough if that's the case. Michigan assistant coaches attended a handful of Edwards' games last season before inviting him for the weekend visit.
"They've shown interest all the way along," Watts said.
Given Edwards' current amount of options, though, he's not twiddling his thumbs waiting for a program looking only to sign a big man late in the game. He still plans to take his four remaining official visits.
"Mike Edwards will not be going anyplace where they just need a warm body and a heartbeat," Watts said. "Mike Edwards if going to go to a school that needs Mike Edwards, not just because he's the best available, but because they need an athletic big that can pick and pop, a guy that can step out and shoot, a guy that has a post game, a guy that can run the floor -- a guy that can do all the things that Mike can do. At this point in time, the schools that have offered, need that."
Despite being the son of former Michigan State football player Michael Edwards, a defensive lineman from 1990 to 1992, the younger Mike Edwards has stuck with a slow process of becoming a Division I basketball player. His talent came to fruition this season thanks to added weight, increased confidence and a more aggressive style.
"People can see where he was and where he's at now," Watts said, adding, "The bottom line was, he wanted to put in the work. He has the work ethic. It was just a matter of showing him what he needed to do to get the fruits of his labor."
While serving as an assistant to Everett's Johnny Jones 10 years ago, Watts worked with prized big men Goran Suton, who went off to Michigan State, and Derick Nelson, who went on to Oakland, as the team won the 2004 Class A state championship. A few years later as Lansing Eastern High School head coach, Watts helped develop LaDontae Henton, who just finished a 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound career at Providence. Watts also worked with notable Michigan-bred big men Al Horford, Paul Davis and Draymond Green in AAU basketball.
Asked for a comparison, Watts said, "Mike is probably the most athletic of all those guys at that size, though, Derick Nelson was a pretty athletic kid. But really, Mike is his own guy."
