Recruit Jett Howard, son of Juwan Howard, takes official visit to Michigan basketball

It’s the rare college basketball recruit who doesn’t play for his father, something to which Michigan basketball fans who follow recruiting closely can attest. Trey Zeigler, whose father Ernie coached at Central Michigan, Ray McCallum Jr. (Ray Sr., Detroit) and Patrick Baldwin Jr. (Pat Sr., Wisconsin-Milwaukee) are examples of highly rated prep players Wolverines coaches recruited hard, only to watch them end up playing at smaller schools for their fathers.

That’s one of many reasons most college basketball recruiting analysts believe Jett Howard will play for his father at Michigan. But the Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy standout has taken visits to N.C. State, Tennessee and Michigan (Sept. 18 weekend), and his father — U-M head coach Juwan Howard — has encouraged him to go through the process.

“He tells me, ‘I don’t want you to look back in 30 years and have regrets … feel like I pushed you into doing something you didn’t want to do,” the younger Howard said. “I know he wants me to be happy.”

So he treated him like a recruit on his visit instead of just his son, taking him around campus, showing him the facilities and letting him know just how much he wanted him to join his program.