Michigan Basketball: U-M Offers 2019 Mark 'Rocket' Watts
No surprises so far this June 15, the first day Michigan head coach John Beilein extends offers to rising juniors. Clarkston (Mich.) three-star forward Taylor Currie committed to the Wolverines on the first day college coaches are allowed to contact rising juniors, and Detroit Old Redford guard Mark 'Rocket' Watts was also offered.
New Haven (Mich.) standout Romeo Weems will also likely receive one, if he hasn't already .
Watts announced the news via twitter.
Watts has seen his stock rise dramatically this summer. He and Weems are playing for The Family's 16U AAU team this summer, and both hold Michigan State offers, as well.
Detroit, Oakland, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, Marquette, Missouri, Iowa, Cincinnati and Alabama have also offered.
“The last five or six months he’s really been working hard in the gym with a trainer, lifting, and his body is getting bigger and better,” his coach, Craig Covington, said in early May. “He’s really added to different aspects of his game. His freshman year he was just known as a three-point shooter, but now he’s working on getting to the basket, his midrange game. He’s also a better defender and rebounder.”
He’s also got a quality you can’t teach, Covington told MSU Rivals last month.
“He wants to be great,” Covington said. “He wants to play at the college level, and maybe beyond that, and he understands that he has to develop as an all-around player for those things to happen. Sometimes kids get in the gym and work, but it doesn’t translate to the game. He is actually using the drills he is doing with his personal trainer in the game. He is using those same techniques during the game.”
College coaches are looking at him at him as a point guard at the next level, Covington said, though Watts is more a combo guard in the process of developing his point guard skills. How much he grows during the next two years will help determine which position best suits him.
Despite the early MSU offer, Watts has gone on record as saying he feels the same about both Michigan and Michigan State, even though U-M offered a bit later.
“He’s discussed that with Coach [John] Beilein and noticed the recurring pattern that they’ve never offered sophomores before June 15, anyway," Covington said. "Sometimes it can even help. He continues to get recruited, and they continue to talk to him.
"I believe he likes Michigan, especially when he sees the product on the floor at the guard position that comes with them. The best part about his game is he’s a natural born scorer, really knows how to put the ball in the basket.”
Watts has taken several unofficial visits to the school and will likely be back again in the near future.
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