James Graham III, the latest on Izzo's radar
The sudden rise of 2021 forward James Graham III continues, and Michigan State has become squarely involved. On Monday night, the 6-foot-8 Milwaukee product received a scholarship offer from the Spartans.
After having just one offer as recently as last month, his total has quickly risen to 15 offers. This is also his fifth offer in the last four days.
Graham, who recently finished his junior year at Nicolet (Wis.) High School, also holds offers from Maryland, Georgia, Florida, State, Xavier, and others. This week, he has virtual visits scheduled with Vanderbilt and Missouri.
Graham had a terrific junior year, by his own estimation. During the COVID-19 lockdown, he made it a priority to send out this junior season footage to college coaches, along with recent videos of the individual workouts and drills that he has done this spring.
"I've been marketing myself to college coaches," he said.
It certainly seems to be paying off, given his recent recruiting momentum.
He told SpartanMag.com that he was first contacted by assistant coach Dwayne Stephens a week and a half ago, which evolved to daily contact from the Spartans staff. Soon after, head coach Tom Izzo personally reached out to Graham to extend the offer.
“Coach Izzo told me that the staff went around the room after evaluating me and all agreed that I was worthy of an offer,” Graham said.
Graham is a stretch four who can serve as a shooting threat from deep, or put it on the floor in the post or from medium range.
Graham becomes just the fourth uncommitted 2021 prospect to hold an offer from MSU. The Spartans are clearly impressed with what they see.
“Coach said that the whole staff believes in me and so does he,” Graham said.
When asked about what impresses him most about Michigan State, Graham was quick to answer.
“Tom Izzo,” he said. “He is a top five coach of all-time. When you think of Michigan State, the first thing that comes to mind are all the Final Fours that he has led them to. MSU is a winning program.”
For fans that aren’t familiar with Graham’s playing style, he said that an ideal player comparison would be Carmelo Anthony.
“Even though I play the three, I love to post-up on guys and create a mismatch,” he said. “I thrive at being an isolation scorer.”
Graham emphasized that he’s comfortable with committing to a school without visiting beforehand. With that said, he also noted that he doesn’t have any current leaders and isn’t in a rush to make a decision.
Michigan State has one commitment in the 2021 class in Pierre Brooks, a versatile 6-foot-6 wing from Detroit Douglass High School. Brooks pledged to MSU on April 22.
Michigan State continues to recruit combo guard Jaden Akins of Farmington, wing Max Christie of Rolling Meadows, Ill., wing guard Kobe Buffkin of Grand Rapids Christian, and Canadian center Charles Bediako by way of Willoughby (Ohio) Osborne Academy.
