Lincoln – University of Nebraska men’s basketball coach Tim Miles announced Wednesday evening that three high school seniors have signed National Letters-of-Intent to join the Husker basketball program.
The three-member class consists of guard Glynn Watson Jr. (Dellwood, Ill.) and forwards Michael Jacobson (Waukee, Iowa) and Edward Morrow Jr. (Chicago, Ill.). The trio all signed with the Huskerson Wednesday, the opening day of the fall signing period.
The class comes in as one of the most highly regarded in program history, as all three players are ranked among the top 200 players in the country by at least one recruiting service. Illinois natives Edward Morrow Jr. (No. 62) and Glynn Watson Jr. (No. 66) are both rated among the top 100 players by ESPN.com, marking the first time that Nebraska has signed a top 100 player out of high school going back to the mid-1990s.
For Tim Miles, this year’s recruiting class is another important step for building the Husker basketball program, as Nebraska looks to continue momentum after reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and selling out the first season at Pinnacle Bank Arena. All three members of the class are from the Midwest, and Nebraska’s move into the Big Ten has brought more exposure to the program in the region. The three signees will join transfer Kansas transfer Andrew White, who was a top-50 player coming out of high school, as newcomers on the 2015-16 Nebraska roster, as the Huskers look to replace a trio of seniors.
“I’m extremely excited about our recruiting class,” Miles said. “When you look at these three young guys and the addition of Andrew White, I believe the future of Husker basketball is in good hands. These are guys who are driven to win, highly competitive and very talented, and they want to be at Nebraska and help build a winner. That is exactly what you want as a coach.”
The No. 21 Huskers open the 2014-15 season against Northern Kentucky on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 1 p.m.
Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown High School
Michael Jacobson F 6-8 220 Waukee, Iowa Waukee High School
Edward Morrow Jr. F 6-7 215 Chicago, Ill. Simeon Career Academy
Glynn Watson Jr. G 5-11 160 Dellwood, Ill. Saint Joseph High School
Michael Jacobson
Michael Jacobson comes to Nebraska from Waukee, Iowa, where he is one of the top prospects in the Midwest in the class of 2015. A three-year starter for Head Coach Justin Ohl at Waukee High School, Jacobson is ranked among the top 200 players in the nation by some recruiting services and is rated the top player in the state of Iowa by 247Sports. He is a consensus three-star selection by Rivals, Scout and 247Sports. As a junior, he earned second-team all-state honors from the Des Moines Register and first-team All-Central Iowa Metropolitan League accolades, averaging 17.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. A very smooth shooter for his size, Jacobson also shot 81.4 percent from the foul line and averaged nearly a 3-pointer per game that season. As a sophomore, he was a Class 4A all-state pick, averaging 14.6 points and 10.5 rebounds while totaling more than 70 blocked shots. Over the summer, he played for the MoKan Elite program for Coach Rodney Perry and is one of five players from the program signing Division I scholarships during the fall signing period. Jacobson was recruited by Iowa, Iowa State, Harvard, Princeton, and UTEP among others and also by Iowa State in football before selecting Nebraska. He is the starting tight end at Waukee High School which has advanced to the semifinals of the Class 4A playoffs in 2014. An exceptional student, Jacobson has a 3.96 GPA entering his senior season. Michael is the son of Bill and Katie Jacobson. His father, Bill, played college basketball at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for four seasons (1983-86), helping the Mavericks to a pair of Division II playoff appearances during his career. The elder Jacobson was also a three-time Academic North Central Conference selection at UNO.
Miles on Michael Jacobson:
“Michael is a highly-skilled player who played for a premier AAU program with the MoKan Elite. He is well prepared by his high school coach Justin Ohl, who was a college player and coach. Michael has 3-point range, makes free throws and has a knack for rebounding and steals. He has great size and could be taller than we thought. His dad played basketball at UNO, so the Nebraska connection continues with the Jacobson family, and we are happy to have Michael join us.”
Edward Morrow Jr.
Edward Morrow Jr. is one of two highly regarded signees from the state of Illinois in Nebraska’s fall signing class. He hails from national power Simeon Career Academy in Chicago where he plays for Coach Robert Smith. The 6-foot-7 forward is one of the top players in the class of 2014, checking in at No. 62 nationally on ESPN’s top 100 list and is the highest-rated high school recruit Nebraska has signed in nearly two decades. He is considered a four-star recruit by Rivals and is rated among the nation’s top 150 players by the site. He was selected to for the Lebron James Skills Academy, which featured 80 of the top high school players in the nation, in the summer of 2014. Simeon returns four starters, including three players expected to sign with Big Ten programs this week, and enters the 2014-15 season ranked 12th in USA Today Super 25 Preseason Poll. As a junior, Morrow helped the school go 23-4 in his first season as a starter, averaging 17 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots per game. Despite being undersized in the post, he turned in a 24-point effort on Jahlil Okafor, the No. 1 player in the 2014 class, and had 22 points against Cliff Alexander, who was the No. 3 player in the 2014 class. For his efforts, he was a second-team All-City honoree by the Chicago Sun Times and a second-team all-state pick by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. As a sophomore, he came off the bench and played a significant role for a team which went 30-3, won its fourth consecutive Class 4A state title and finished fifth in the country. He played behind five senior starters in 2012-13, including Milwaukee Bucks rookie Jabari Parker. Morrow played for the Mac Irvin Fire AAU program and Coach Mike Irvin, averaging 14.1 points on 68 percent shooting, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 rebounds per game in the Nike EYBL last summer. Morrow also helped lead the Mac Irvin Fire to the Las Vegas Classic in July of 2014, as the program featured six Division I signees. Edward, who selected Nebraska over Iowa, is the son of Ed Sr. and Nafeesah Brown, as both of his parents were student-athletes at Nebraska. Ed Sr. played football for Tom Osborne and was a member of the Huskers’ 1994 national title team, while Nafeesah played three seasons for the Husker women’s basketball program, totaling 1,089 points and 574 rebounds. As a senior, she averaged 20.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game to earn first-team All-Big Eight honors.
Miles on Edward Morrow Jr.:
“The Morrow legacy continues and we are truly excited about that. Nafeesah and Ed Sr. were both student-athletes at Nebraska, and Nafeesah had an outstanding basketball career for the Huskers. Edward has such a great motor and a high ceiling. He is only going to improve and get better and better. He is a young guy who is dying to get better. He makes such an impact on the game, not only with his athleticism and his ability, but has a strong willpower. He runs the floor and rebounds, guards the opponent’s best player and make plays on the glass and in transition. I’m excited to have him in our program and help him become the player he wants to be. Being a part of Simeon Career Academy and being coached by Robert Smith and playing for the Mac Irvin Fire means he is among the elite. Simeon is one of the best high school basketball programs in the country, and Coach Smith will have him ready to play at this level.”
Glynn Watson Jr.
One of the nation’s top senior point guards, Glynn Watson Jr. hails from Dellwood, Ill., where he plays for legendary high school coach Gene Pingatore at Saint Joseph High School in Westchester, Ill. A consensus four-star prospect, Watson is ranked among the top 100 players in the country by every recruiting service and is ranked as high as 63rd nationally by Scout.com, which also ranks him as the sixth-best point guard in the class of 2015, and No. 66 on ESPN.com’s top-100 seniors. Watson earned an invitation to the USA men’s U18 National Team training camp in the summer of 2014. He joins fellow Big Ten signee Jordan Ash (Northwestern) in the St. Joseph backcourt in 2014-15 that is among the best in the state of Illinois. Watson, who is considered one of the top five players in the state of Illinois, earned third-team Class 3A all-state honors from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and all-state special mention by the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette during his junior season. A first-team all-Catholic League pick, Watson averaged 15 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals per game, while leading St. Joseph to a 25-8 record and the Class 3A Sectional semifinals in 2013-14. As a sophomore, he garnered honorable-mention Chicago Catholic League honors in his first season as a starter, helping St. Joseph to an 18-13 record and a sectional finals appearance. Watson also played for the Illinois Wolves and Head Coach Mike Mullins. He continues a tradition of strong guard play in his family as older brothers, Demetri and DeAndre McCamey, both also starred at St. Joseph. Demetri was a three-time All-Big Ten pick, earning first-team honors in 2009-10 before playing in Australia. St. Joseph High School has the distinction of being the only school which has produced a pair of 1,000-point scorers for Nebraska, as Clifford Scales (1988-91) and Carl Hayes (1990-92) both played for Pingatore as he begins his 44th season at the school. The pair both scored 1,136 points at Nebraska and played major roles in the Huskers’ school-record 26-win team in 1990-91. Watson also looked at Creighton, Maryland, Purdue, Tennessee and West Virginia before choosing Nebraska. Glynn is the son of Glynn Watson Sr. and Sabrina Watson.
Miles on Glynn Watson Jr.:
“Glynn is a true difference maker. He is a playmaking point guard who knows how to make winning plays. He made numerous game-winning shots in high-level events on the summer circuit and really impressed me. Defensively, he has great hands and quickness. Offensively, he makes shots, makes plays and really has a knack to make his teammates better. Glynn played for the legendary Gene Pingatore at Saint Joseph High School, the same school that produced Isiah Thomas, Demetri McCamey and many other point guards. Playing at St. Joseph and for the Illinois Wolves program, we know he will be well prepared when he comes to Nebraska.”