Chatting With Logan Tuley-Tillman, Wolverine

I've been keeping up with Logan Tuley-Tillman, the eighth player to commit to Michigan this past weekend, since the beginning of his recruiting process. He needs little introduction, as much has been written about his class, determination, and perseverance while growing up in Peoria, IL, and doing everything in his power to become a Division I football player. Logan's dream was realized on Sunday, and I had the opportunity to talk with him about why he chose Michigan, how he made the pledge, and much more:

ACE: What made you decide that it was the right time to commit?

LOGAN: I just really felt like it was time. I'd seen all my friends doing it, and I knew that Michigan was where I wanted to be. I really wanted to go see [other schools], but I came to realize that there was no other place where I fit in more than Michigan, and was probably just the cities that I wanted to see most out of those places, which is understandable because of the high-profile places that they were. I just came to the realization that Michigan was where I belonged and where I needed to be.

ACE: How did your commitment go down?

LOGAN: I actually got home and I knew I was going to announce it, so I put something on Twitter. I was just talking to my mom about it the whole day. Then when I got home, I told her I was going to decide, and she said "okay," and walked away when I was on the phone. She was really trippin', because I was just at Wisconsin, and she didn't think it was going to be Michigan. I got on the phone, I called Coach Darrell Funk, and we talked about me committing. My mom, she was sitting there listening, and I was talking to [Coach Funk] and Coach Hoke the whole time, and they was just so exuberant about it, really happy. It was really crazy coming from where I came from and not ever having nothing to being able to have an opportunity to play for Michigan. It's just so crazy to me.

ACE: You being the eighth player to commit over the weekend, were you talking to any of the other recruits, especially the guys who committed over the weekend?

LOGAN: No, I actually didn't talk to anybody. I just sat by myself for a couple hours, I didn't even answer any calls or anything like that. When I sat there thinking it really just came down to Michigan, Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Wisconsin, and USC. I just took all the places that I'd seen and thought about me waking up there, would I be happy, and the one I would be happiest in is in Ann Arbor, so that's when I decided to commit.

ACE: What about Ann Arbor made you decide that's where you'd be happiest at?

LOGAN: Just the tradition and family support that I have there, how great the coaching staff is, the man Coach Hoke is, how he's him constantly and he's going to tell you how he sees things and how he coaches.

ACE: Now that you committed, I see a lot of Team 134 talk. What's it like being able to be a part of a class that's already so tight-knit, and what are your goals as a class?

LOGAN: It is very exciting. I heard someone say that we've got the number one offensive line class in the country. It's just so great to be able to say that; not just that the people that I'm going to play in college with are great players, they're great people, Michigan Men, and we're all good friends and close to each other, or will eventually be. We're ranked real high right now as a group, and right now we don't even have all of our guys committed yet, so we're just honestly trying to get in there and all push each other as hard as we can. Because everyone's all really talented in our class, honestly making it to the national championship, that's our goal when we're actually on the field.

ACE: Are you planning on doing a little recruiting on your own at this point?

LOGAN: (laughs) Yeah, most definitely. I'm not going to say any names, but I know there's three for a fact that I'm going to try to get for certain. Another thing is, we're real good friends too, so that's one of the things that I'm telling to them. I'm going to be off the roof for them, I'll have their back, wherever they go, but just the family that we have here at Michigan is why I personally, as a friend, would say Michigan or be pro-Michigan and when we talk just tell them about it.

ACE: Going back to talk about Coach Hoke and the coaching staff as a whole, what set them apart from the coaching staffs at the other schools that you went to?

LOGAN: They were just so personal, on a personal level. Coach Borges, too, he's a great coach, I really appreciate all the time they put in. They actually came to my school about five or six times. I know Coach Funk, I think he actually drove the whole seven hours just to come to my school and he had to leave at night because he got there at about 8:30. Just the small things that they did really proved to me that they wanted me.

ACE: I know last time we talked you said you were up to around 304 pounds. What's your goal now in terms of getting better on the field and working off the field before you get to Michigan?

LOGAN: Yeah, I'm up to 307 now, but I can still run a lot. I still have track practice and I'm still real mobile, that's one of the things I really like, it really surprised me because I figured that I would be able to do the same things that I can. I can still dunk at 307, so that's a real big thing, just staying mobile and loose and pushy, just really add another dimension to my game. Then of course there's the weight room, which is every young lineman's thing that they've got to get knocked out of the way. I've got to increase all my numbers in there, which I'm doing pretty good on. I maxed out at 605 on the squat, so I'm just trying to build up on that, at least put 100 pounds on that before I get there, because I know the guys there are doing way more than that.

ACE: If you had to sum up in a couple of words what this weekend was like for you, what did it boil down to?

LOGAN: It's hard to say. For three words, it would have to be: emotional, triumphant, and Michigan.