How a 'heart-to-heart' with Juwan Howard kept Jett Howard from Tennessee
Jett Howard wasn't always guaranteed to be a Wolverine. In fact, at one point during his recruitment process, he was practically signed, sealed and delivered to play for Rick Barnes and Tennessee.
Despite the obvious influences of his brother, Jace, who is on the roster, and his father running the show, the younger Howard wanted to make sure he made the right decision for him and him alone.
In an alternate universe, he could very well be a Volunteer.
"I just want to give props to Coach Barnes, man," Howard said during his recent appearance on the Defend the Block podcast. "He was amazing in that process. He was genuine, he had my mom for a good portion of it. She was leaning towards Tennessee, don't let her tell you wrong. At first, the first few weeks I was going to Tennessee, I was telling my aunt that I think this is where I want to be, where I want to play.
"I came to Michigan on my visit, I was sick so I didn't really get the chance to see Michigan and listen because I was out of it, I had the flu. When I left, I said, you know what, I think I want to go to Tennessee."
While the younger Howard will always respect the Tennessee program, the pull to Michigan ultimately won out in the end.
While the ability to play alongside your brother and playing for your father is a special thing with only a select few basketball players can say that they have accomplished, it wasn't until a heart-to-heart sit down with his father that turned the tide for the Wolverines.
The rest, as they say, is history.
"I came back for a weekend to visit and watch Moussa practice because that was my teammate," Howard said. "Me and my dad had a good heart-to-heart moment. He was like, man, he's really good at telling how I'm feeling in that moment so he kind of understood. I was giving him short responses about Michigan and stuff like that and nodding my head. He was like, man, listen, at the end of the day I'm going to love you regardless.
"You can play for whoever, I'm still going to be your dad, I'm still going to show up, I will still support you. Don't think that if you go to Tennesse I'm not going to love you or any of those things, but, there was a but, I personally think I have your best interests in mind. You'll never have to lose sleep on if I do or I don't."
Adding:
"I think you fit into our playstyle really well. Nothing is given so if you come in here, don't think because I'm your dad you're gonna start or automatically crack the rotation. You have to earn that in practice and in training camp. I respected that the most because I felt like other schools, gave me false hope, or maybe it wasn't false hope, or just maybe sold the dream a little bit more. They kept it 100% real with me. Just getting that, I wanted to go to Michigan."
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