Ohio Senior Player of the Year becomes fourth signee in class of 2009
May 6, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 6, 2009 – Ohio Senior Player of the Year Bill Edwards (Middletown, Ohio) signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Nittany Lion basketball team at a Wednesday morning press conference at Middletown High School bringing the number of signees in Penn State’s 2009 recruiting class to four.
Edwards, a 6-6, 240-pound wing, joins fellow late-period signee Sasa Borovnjak (Fletcher, N.C.), a 6-9, 230-pound forward, and early period signees Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas/Strake Jesuit), a 6-2 guard, and Jermaine Marshall (Etters, Pa./Red Land), a 6-5 shooting guard.
‘We are very excited to have Bill joining a very strong 2009 recruiting class,’ Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘He is a very strong kid that can play any perimeter spot and also use his strength to post up defenders. He is a very good ball-handler and passer, a strong perimeter shooter and has that Big Ten prototype body.’
Edwards was named a first-team Ohio Division I All-State selection after averaging 17.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game for Middletown. He also earned first-team all-district and district Player of the Year honors, was named the co-Player of the Year in the Greater Miami Conference and was nominated as a McDonald’s All-American. Edwards finished his career ranked seventh all-time on the school’s career scoring chart with 1,129 points. That chart is headed by basketball legend Jerry Lucas.
‘Bill played for a great program and was well coached by Bob Ronai at Middletown,’ DeChellis said. ‘He is a very competitive young guy who wants to win and has played on winning high school and AAU teams his whole career.’
The Middies posted a 12-0 conference record and went 19-3 overall in Edward’s senior season before being upset in the second round of the state playoffs. They finished ranked No. 3 in the state of Ohio. The team improved from 7-15 in his freshman season to 13-9 in his sophomore year and 15-8 in his junior season, and Edwards is one of three senior Middies to sign letters of intent to play college basketball so far this year.
‘Bill is a very skilled player who sees the floor extremely well and has a very multi-faceted game,’ Ronai said. ‘He led our conference in assists playing a kind of power point-guard. He’s like a chess player in that he sees two or three moves ahead and he can score in a variety of ways shooting, going to the hole, or posting up.
‘He is a very good three-point shooter and has great range on his jumper,’ Ronai continued. ‘Bill is a very coachable kid who is just touching his potential. But, as good as his game is, he is an even better person. He is going to be a leader and will get involved in the community and all the things around the Penn State program.’
An honor student and three star rated recruit by Rivals.com, Edwards is the son of Bill Edwards, Sr. who was a standout at Wright State University (1990-93) before going on to a 12-year professional career in Europe. Known as ‘Dollar Bill’ during his playing career, Edwards, Sr. is Wright State’s all-time leading scorer and played briefly with the Philadelphia 76ers before becoming a top scorer and rebounder playing in upper division leagues in Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Israel and Germany. He also earned a bronze medal playing for the United States in the 1998 FIBA World Championships.