Justin Edwards continues to hear from Kentucky heading into AAU season

On3 imageby:Zack Geoghegan04/08/22

ZGeogheganKSR

This time last year, Justin Edwards was not nearly as well-known a prospect as he is now. The summer of 2021 saw a boom in his recruitment, eventually leading to an offer from the Kentucky Wildcats this past fall. Now an established five-star, the 6-foot-7, 180-pound high school junior continues to look the part of a future star.

Edwards was the engine that powered Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, PA) to a PIAA Class 5A state championship title in late March. He finished with a game-high 20 points for Imhotep and an average of roughly 18 points per game across the season. Alongside two impressive future Divison I guards in Rahmir Barno (2023) and Ahmad Nowell (2024), Imhotep closed the 2021-22 season ranked No. 11 national by MaxPreps. Edwards hauled in plenty of individual awards as a result, including Most Valuable Player in his league and City Player of the Year.

“Justin, when he talks about basketball, you’re probably gonna hear him say ‘winning’ at some point because that’s what really motivates him,” Imhotep head coach Andre Noble told KSR this week.

He’s already considered a five-star recruit and the No. 13 overall player in the class of 2023 by the On3 Consensus, but Edwards could realistically see another boom in his recruitment over the coming months. He’s an established product and will headline another talented Team Final roster on the Nike EYBL circuit this summer.

Edwards initially received his offer from head coach John Calipari and the Kentucky coaching while on his official visit to Lexington the weekend of Nov. 19, 2021. Prior to UK, he hauled in scholarships from the likes of Tennessee, UConn, Auburn, LSU, Virginia, and plenty of other Power 5 schools. Villanova extended an offer in February and Edwards took an official visit to Tennessee in early March.

As Edwards prepares for his final AAU season, which begins this weekend in Orlando, FL, there are a group of schools that have stood out, according to Coach Noble. Those schools are Penn State, Villanova, Tennessee, Auburn, UConn, and Kentucky. Noble added that this list isn’t definite or perfectly reflective of Edwards’ thoughts, but these are the programs making their presence known more than others. No other official visits have been made public at this time.

The Kentucky staff, particularly assistant coach Orlando Antigua, has been in constant communication with Edwards, even making the trip to Philly for the state title game. Imhotep runs a dribble-drive offense similar to what UK does, with an emphasis on calling sets and actions for Edwards.

When KSR asked Noble what he believes the number one thing Edwards is looking for in a program, he pointed to comfortability.

“I think the biggest thing for Justin is comfort,” Noble said of Edwards. “He’s not a jump-around kid at all. I would bet against the portal with Justin Edwards. We get on Justin and we coach him up pretty hard, between both programs that he plays for, here and Team Final. In this day and age, when you do that with kids that are talented, they’re off to their third or fourth location, and Justin is just a high-character kid. From being a high-character kid he embraces coaching and he knows it comes from love.”

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-03-28