Jace Howard arrives at Fordham from the University of Michigan, where he spent five years as a student-athlete. Jace is the son of former Michigan head coach and current Brooklyn Nets assistant Juwan Howard. On April 27th, The Portal Report shared that Howard had Zoom meetings set up with Fordham and Albany, and shortly after, on April 29th, his commitment to the Rams was announced.

He appeared in five games last season before redshirting the remainder of the year due to injury. Howard will need a medical redshirt waiver for the coming season, but since he appeared in well under the 30% games played threshold and the injury occurred before conference play, there shouldn’t be an issue. During his time at Michigan, he played alongside a handful of future NBA professionals and contributed to three NCAA tournament berths. Despite twelve roster additions this offseason, Jace is the only one with experience at the Power 5 level. The school’s press release provides a detailed description of his accomplishments while at Michigan.

Howard was a reserve for the majority of his time at Michigan, appearing in 70 games over the span of five seasons, posting 1.4 PPG, 0.9 RPG, and 0.2 APG in 6.8 minutes per game. Injuries slowed him down the last two seasons. He dealt with a stress fracture in his right knee and tibia that held him out of 15 games in ‘23-24, and lingering effects from a summer knee surgery limited him to five games in ‘24-25. He saw the most action in ‘22-23, appearing in 30 games.

His career shooting splits:

• 35.3% FG

• 38.6% 2PT (17/44)

• 31.7% 3PT (13/41)

• 53.7% FT (22/41)

Highlights:

Howard was primarily a wing shooter and defender at Michigan. He likes to shoot the corner three—where he’s shot a career 35% on twenty attempts. As a reserve, some of Howard’s best attributes were his tough defense, ball security, and contributions on the offensive glass. Howard is listed at 6-7, 215 pounds, and is a versatile defender, capable of matching up against a range of skillsets both on the perimeter and interior.

Howard is coming off a lingering knee injury and entering a rotation with other productive wing transfers in Zarique Nutter (Georgia State), Akira Jacobs (Hawaii), and Louis Lesmond (Harvard), so while it's hard to predict his exact role, it’s safe to expect more playing time than he saw at Michigan. A two-time captain for the Wolverines, his leadership will be an asset for a Fordham team that has to coalesce and learn how to win together. “I’ll bring experience, toughness, leadership, and aggressiveness to Fordham with being a dynamic wing that can guard all positions,” he told ZagsBlog following his commitment.

The next transfer preview will be Louis Lesmond!

Jack Whitbourn

Dejour Reaves

Akira Jacobs

Rikus Schulte

In the queue: Christian Henry, Demitri Gardner, Marcus Greene, Zarique Nutter, and Abass Bodija.