Middletown grad Bill Edwards Jr. transferring to Miami from Penn State

Bill Edwards, Jr.

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Photos: Edwards headed to Miami

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:15 AM Wednesday, April 14, 2010

OXFORD — The Miami University basketball team is losing two experienced guards but gaining a forward with big-time talent and Big Ten experience.

RedHawks coach Charlie Coles announced Tuesday, April 13, that Middletown High School graduate Bill Edwards Jr. is transferring to Miami from Penn State.

“Bill Edwards is a player,” Coles said of the 6-foot-6, 235-pound forward who saw action in 26 games and started five for the Nittany Lions as a freshman, averaging 16 minutes, 4.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

“He can play several positions and has good basketball skills,” Coles said. “He can dribble, pass, shoot. He’s got a very well-rounded game. I don’t know how good he is on defense. He probably needs to get a little better there, but he has a lot of talent.”

That talent won’t be available to the RedHawks until the 2011-12 season because of the NCAA transfer rule, which requires Edwards to sit out one year.

“We recruited him last year,” Coles said of Edwards, a Middletown teammate of Miami freshman guard Allen Roberts. “He was high on our list.”

But now, a guard with talent is high on Coles’ wish list. Junior guard Rodney Haddix II and sophomore guard Kramer Soderberg are transferring from Miami. Haddix, who played in 32 games last season, started 16, averaged 5.4 points and tied for the team lead with 27 steals, is headed to Georgetown College in his hometown of Georgetown, Ky.

Soderberg, who played in 32 games, started five and averaged 2.2 points, is leaving for Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., where the basketball coach is his father, Brad Soderberg.

“If we get a guard who has talent, and we’re recruiting some guys who have talent, we’ll be OK,” said Coles, whose best guard from the past season, senior Kenny Hayes, has played his final collegiate game. “We have some of our main people coming back. Our talent level is pretty high.”

Miami returns nine players, including four starters, from the 2009-10 roster, including Julian Mavunga, who made all-Mid-American Conference honorable mention.

Coles said he didn’t encourage Haddix “to leave or anything. He didn’t want to risk playing time, maybe. He knew we had a couple (recruits) coming in and Allen (Roberts) and Orlando (Williams) were emerging, so it makes sense.”

Coles said Soderberg faced a hard decision.

“Kramer went back to play for his dad,” he said. “But I think he felt like he had made a lot of friends here at Miami, and he was a hard worker. He thought it over thoroughly. I think it was something that was on his mind a lot. His best friend also transferred to Lindenwood. This was hard for him to pass up.”

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