New Blue, Denzel Ward

IL OT Denzel Ward, listed at 6'9, 295ish, committed to Michigan yesterday before the maize and blue defeated Michigan State. Ward gave his commitment a mere week after receiving his offer from Hoke and staff during his visit for the Illinois game. Ward has also struck up a quick friendship with '13 commit Logan Tuley-Tillman, with whom he trains at the Core 6 complex in Illinois.

The thing about Ward is, as you've probably come to understand by now, he's come out of nowhere. As a result, there's preciously little information out there about him. He's in his first season of organized football, but was already receiving interest (as well as offers from Michigan and Purdue) from the some of the top schools in the country. Since Michigan has grabbed 4 tackles in the past two classes, and with the maize and blue in such good position with so many others, Ward must be a pretty damn athletic to earn an offer.

In any case, Ward looks like he fits the narrative of Tuley-Tillman. Good athlete, hard worker, but far from being a finished product. With Magnuson looking to be the heir apparent at the LT position, they can afford to take some high-upside types to fill out the numbers. If the staff can turn one of the two into starter-caliber material, I'd be happy. From a numbers standpoint, the Wolverines are probably looking for one more true tackle prospect as well as an ambiguous swingman-type who could play in or outside. The rumblings would suggest that Michigan is sitting pretty with a number of offensive linemen in the 2014 including Tommy Doles, Alex Bars, Mason Cole, and Jay Hayes. If Doles and/or Cole drop soon, the scramble for spots could be similar to this past year. While expecting another super-weekend would seem a bit unreasonable, I think the 2014 class could be on the brink of explosion. Time will tell. Until then, stay tuned.

So there you have it, folks. I'll update the post when film becomes available and I can at least give you some rudimentary measure of his play. Until then, all we have to go on Ward are reasoned assumptions. Ahh, recruiting!