Jon Horford, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward from Grand Ledge High School, signed his letter of intent with the Michigan basketball program during the first day of the spring signing period.

He had verbally committed to the school last month.

“We’re very anxious to work with him on some things with his shooting but he is a very good foul shooter, and that’s usually a pretty good sign about a person’s perimeter ability,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “What I saw the progression of was really a skilled passer. Could run the floor, take the ball on the break, get a rebound and just go up the court right off the rebound.

“As the year developed, as I watched him play, his ability to rebound in traffic was getting better as his strength improves. He’s really a very athletic, went up there and got a lot of tough rebounds.”

Horford averaged 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for Grand Ledge this season.

Despite Horford’s lankiness, Beilein said the younger brother of NBA All-Star Al Horford could play immediately. Michigan will be young in the frontcourt in 2010-11 with incoming freshmen Evan Smotrycz and Horford along with redshirt freshmen Blake McLimans and Jordan Morgan the only options.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if all four of them have opportunities to really prove themselves this year,” Beilein said.

While Horford signed, Michigan’s biggest target of the late period went somewhere else.

Guard Trey Zeigler announced Wednesday he was going to Central Michigan, where his father, Ernie, is the head coach and recently received a four-year extension.

Zeigler said he told Ernie on Monday night he’d stay home and play for him. Ray McCallum Jr., another top prospect, committed to Detroit to play under his father.

“We talked about it a lot in this last week and we came to the conclusion that it was the best thing to do,” Zeigler said on ESPNU. “Watching Butler and other mid-majors make runs in the tournament, we thought we could the same thing with our dads.”

Michigan still has two scholarships remaining and could offer one to Detroit Denby guard Isaiah Sykes. The Wolverines had been looking at Sykes throughout the season.

Beilein did not rule out signing another player in the late period, which runs through May. He also didn’t rule out looking overseas for a potential player or to potential transfers.

“We’re going to look at all kinds of opportunities,” Beilein said. “Obviously, we still have some scholarships, and if we find the right young men to fill them we’ll continue to go. If not, 2011, 2012 are all, you just, you bank them for the future.

“This was important with Jon to make sure we had more size and length that we were looking for in this particular class, important for this year and beyond.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.