Providence needs some more offensive firepower across the board after an abysmal 2024-2025. Kim English and staff are apparently going big game hunting this portal offseason with a healthy NIL figure and are targeting Vanderbilt transfer guard Jason Edwards.
Edwards was the tip of the spear for the Commodores, the leading scorer for an NCAA tournament team that played in the gauntlet of the SEC. Being the lead scorer of an SEC team is no small feat. Leading said school to its first NCAA tournament since 2016-2017 while being the leading scorer is all the more impressive. The kid can play, even if he doesn’t have prototypical size at the 1 spot.
Edwards was named Third Team All-SEC in his first season in the conference after previously playing for North Texas and being First Team All Conference there.
We break down the game of Edwards and how he would fit within the current framework of the 2025-2026 Friars.
College Production
North Texas (one year): 43% FG, 35% from 3, 81% Free Throw, 2.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2.3 turnovers, 19.1 points
Vanderbilt (one year): 44% FG, 35% from 3, 83% Free Throw, 2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.6 turnovers, 17.0 points
Edwards will technically be a senior next year wherever he chooses and have only one more year of eligibility. He started his career at a D2 school Miles College before transferring to a JuCo Dodge City before ultimately landing at North Texas. The Diego Pavia ruling may mean he has two years of eligibility, but a team can worry about that after landing him. Even having him as a one year mercenary is worth the price of admission.
Play Style
Edwards is listed at 6’1, and that may be measured with him standing on a phonebook (is that reference too ancient for my younger readers? Oh well).
Edwards is everything you want in a collegiate scoring guard. He can knock it down from deep, finish at the rim with craftiness and creativity, and does all of this at a rather efficient clip. Despite his size, he likes to mix it up offensively in the paint and isn’t afraid to venture into the land of the trees. He has an incredibly quick first step to beat his man and also initiates contact to get his defender off-balance.
His release is kinda quirky, a more refined version of The Matrix Shawn Marion. You’d think his shot would get swatted, but his release is so quick that he gets away with it. If he was doing this solely at North Texas, I’d be skeptical, but he was still able to score with ease in the SEC, so I’m not too worried.
He’s an offense first guy. His assist numbers reflect that, and I’d like to see him get his team more involved if he were to become a Friar. That is me being overly critical, but we saw too much iso ball last year with English, so it is a concern I have to raise.
Fit With the Friars
Sometimes, it is as simple as adding elite talent regardless of how they fit within the construct of the roster. If you have a chance to add an elite player, you do so. Edwards is that.
Last year, Providence didn’t have any players that earned All-Conference honors. That’s a talent issue that needs to be remedied. This upcoming year, we can look towards Oswin as probably the only person on the current roster that will more likely than not receive All-Conference honors. Other players on the roster have a chance, yes, but Oswin is the only player you’d confidently put money on expecting to win that bet. Realistically, you cannot say that about anybody else on the roster (sorry, Ryan Mela fans) and be truthfully confident.
Providence needs to increase the quantity of players on its roster that have the ceiling of being named All-Conference. Edwards checks that box. As Third Team All-SEC this past year, you can look to him being a veteran college player, producing at every stop he’s been at, and assume he’ll be one of the Top 10-15 players in the Big East at worst.
If you add Edwards, you now have one of the best backcourt and frontcourt players in the conference in Edwards and Oswin. That’s a good place to live and raises both the floor and ceiling of this team.
Edwards has also carried both of his teams the past two years, so he has no issues being “the guy”. That is something that was missing last year post Devin Carter. The pieces around Edwards can be complimentary pieces and thus more effective in their roles.
In terms of rotation, I’d be curious to see how Edwards would play alongside Davis. I’m skeptical of playing them together as starters. Offensively, they’d be a really fun watch, as I think both have the ability to take their man off the dribble, but it reverts back to the issues of this past year where we defensively were eaten alive because we had two smaller guards playing alongside each other in Joseph and Pierre. Running it back with Edwards and Davis as your 1-2 is more of the same. Vanderbilt may have been privvy to this as they playyed Edwards alongside the bigger bodied Hoggard.
I presume Kim had a conversation with Davis that he’d bring in somebody like Edwards for this year, while assuring Davis he’s the guard of the future. I could be mistaken, however, and he sees these two playing alongside each other. Offensively, it would be night and day from this past year as two guys who want to get up and down the court and are not at all tentative.
It may be the most prudent to have an Edwards paired with a bigger body two guard like a Floyd Jr. By having a Floyd Jr. as his running mate, you can do your best to hide the defensive deficiencies of an Edwards or Davis.
Summary
If Edwards is to become a Friar, this is the type of portal add we haven’t seen before under English. It’s a guy that has been uber productive at a high major level. All of our adds under English have been guys who effectively produced at a mid-major level or were role players at a high major program. Edwards not only produced, but produced in the top conference in college basketball last year.
By potentially adding an Edwards, you now have your backcourt issues taken care of and now only need to add a starting 4 as the last “necessity” in the portal. With Edwards in the mix, he and Davis will handle the rock for 90-95% of the time, and Floyd Jr. and Mela can help out in a pinch if needed (see Georgia Baha Mar game for Corey as proof).
I have been asking for four portal adds at a minimum with two ball-handlers and two frontcourt players. If they add Edwards, they are now 75% of the way to meeting my requirements in the portal. Another scoring wing would be a luxury add at this point, and you only add that player if you think he is head and shoulders above what Providence currently has on the roster.
We’ll see what transpires with Edwards, but I applaud English and staff for swinging for the fences. It’s a testament to the state of the Providence program when it comes to NIL that they can even get involved with a player of this stature.
Go Friars.
Providence Crier Recruiting Articles
Daquan Davis Commits: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/04/02/second-time-is-the-charm-one-time-friar-commit-daquan-davis-transfers-to-providence/
Crier Recruiting Corner – Introducing Cole Hargrove: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/04/01/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-drexel-forward-cole-hargrove/
2025 Portal Primer: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/03/24/the-providence-crier-2025-portal-primer-1-0/
Retention Attention: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/03/22/retention-attention-whos-in-whos-out-in-providence/
What Went Wrong: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/03/12/what-went-wrong-this-season/
Amir Jenkins: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/03/04/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-2026-pg-amir-jenkins/
Crier Recruiting Corner: Abdou Toure: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/03/03/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-2026-connecticut-wing-abdou-toure/
Crier Recruiting Corner: Marcis Ponder: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2025/02/26/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-2026-center-marcis-big-show-ponder/
2026 Recruiting Primer:https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/05/08/the-providence-crier-2026-recruiting-primer-version-1-0/
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