Glacier’s Ryan Edwards, a 6-foot-11, 300-pound all-state center, has verbally committed to play basketball at Gonzaga University.
Edwards, who will be a senior next fall, was the leading scorer for last season’s Western AA divisional champion Wolfpack, averaging 13.3 points per game. He also led the state in rebounds, 10.7, and blocks, 3.
Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said Edwards made his decision after visiting Gonzaga and Washington State on recent recruiting trips.
“At end of the visits he said ‘Gonzaga feels right, it feels like a good fit,'” Harkins said. “Something clicked.”
Gonzaga has made the NCAA championship tournament every year since 1999. The Bulldogs have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen five times, the last coming in 2009.
Edwards was one of Gonzaga’s first two recruits to commit. Afterward the college basketball world was somewhat abuzz over this mysterious Montana seven-footer recruited by one of the premier programs in the nation.
“Gonzaga may have uncovered a rare hidden gem in Ryan Edwards,” wrote Jeff Eisenberg with Yahoo! Sports.
Kellon Hassenstab with NBC Sports wrote Edwards and Gonzaga’s other early recruit have not “been on many radars prior to making their commitments to the Gonzaga program, and there’s the possibility that the coaching staff has found some diamonds in the rough.”
As someone who’s seen Edwards develop over the last few seasons, I agree completely.