'14 OT Denzel Ward No Longer Committed
Title pretty much says it all. Better that these things happen sooner than later, I suppose.
LINK? http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/michigan/forums/_/the-den#!/topic/1359484652-266-681 (Insider)
EDIT
Sam Webb reporting that it was Michigan's call.
@Grahambino007 Hearing it was #Michigan's choice and the door wasn't left open for a Dawson-like return.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:43 PM ^
Well fuck...
January 29th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
See! We didn't want him anyway!
January 29th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^
He wants to play early, right? Well, he'd be coming in with TWO years of experience and competing against our 2012 and 2013 classes.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^
He'll be back. Just like D.Dawson.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^
RT @SamWebb77
@Grahambino007 Hearing it was #Michigan's choice and the door wasn't left open for a Dawson-like return.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
Damn.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
To be fair, at the time a door wasn't left open for a Dawson-like return for Dawson either.
January 29th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
Please do share where this was confirmed by Hoke, because I'm pretty sure that's baseless speculation.
January 29th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^
It is an NCAA violation for Hoke to talk about recruits specifically before signing day. Thomas Wilcher, Dawson's coach, and a former Michigan player, said as much after Dawson decommitted, though.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^
Denzel Ward
January 29th, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^
Sad face
January 29th, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
I realize fans from all schools always say this but....who cares. This is the least important need in our recruiting right now due to our previous years' line hauls and there are many linemen in the 2014 class. All signs point to Ward being a 2-3 project anyways. This one does not hurt us.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:58 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^
reminds me a lot of Anthony Lalota. Not saying he'll have the same outcome, but limited data points always kinda concern me. But, I'm certainly not saying that I'm glad he's gone or anything stupid like that.
January 29th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^
limited data points always kinda concern me
Limited data is limited.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
Indeed. Alex Bars, Mason Cole, Viane Talamaivao, Jamarco Jones, and Andy Bauer would be nice consolation. Bauer might be tough to land, but we'll definitely be fine.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:27 PM ^
Of those guys you listed, Mason Cole is at the top of my wish list. In addition to his own talent, I hear he has some friends we may be interested in.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:46 PM ^
We should have a decent shot at landing him, especially if we pursue the whole teammate thing. Bauer is the top of my wish list as an individual, though, partly from watching him, and partly from him being the top of Bama and LSU's wish list too. But with Florida landing two top 2014 tackles already, and other local guys out there for LSU and Bama like Cam Robinson and Orlando Brown, guys like Bauer and Cole, and maybe even Damian Prince could be in play for us.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:50 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^
It would hurt more if we didn't have two stellar offensive line classes ahead of him.
If we had Ohio's depth chart? Yes this would be a big blow.
But with our current depth chart, AAAND with Taylor Lewan coming back for an additional year, it's so early that the fan-base shouldn't be heartbroken about this.
Good luck to Denzel.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:12 PM ^
I'd love to see him as part of this class, but given Hoke's record for recruiting, we'll be just fine. It sucked losing Ty Issac and Treadwell, but we did fine recruiting without them as well. Its a bummer, but not unrecoverable.
I wish the kid luck, for sure.
January 29th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
We never actually had Isaac and Treadwell... but I agree, if there is a position that Hoke has shown an ability to recruit, it's the OL.
January 29th, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
Is it alright if I feel like "meh". I mean I really really liked his upside, but it's still really early, so finding a replacement shouldn't be too difficult. And I think if there's one place we can handle a decommit it's at the OL. Does anyone know if Sam's phrasing acutally means that UM dropped him because of the whole moving unexpectedly to FL and visiting UF all the time?
January 29th, 2013 at 2:00 PM ^
He may turn out to be a fine player. There are a lot of other OL out there in the class of 2014 who also will turn out to be fine players. The coaches now know that they have to find one more of them, and they have 12+ months to do it. Not a big deal.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:54 PM ^
Michael Ferns committed? Was this ever posted on the board?!
January 29th, 2013 at 1:50 PM ^
Do decommits come in pairs DO DECOMMITS COME IN PAIRS???
And if we buckle up for commitments, what do we do for this?????
January 29th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
Taking off our pants seems to be the most logical thing to do for this.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:58 PM ^
Way ahead of you hvsiii
January 29th, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^
He said take them off not combust them via rocket fuel. Semantics, yo.
January 29th, 2013 at 5:06 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
No surprise, really. We've got so many top tackle prospects ahead of him it wouldn't surprise me if he was looking around for early playing time. Still, a lot can happen between now and next NSD.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
But, it's much better to have this happen now than a year from now. There's plenty of time to replace him with a good player in the 2014 class. The best of luck to him.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
I think we all saw this coming. Sure, it's possible to get him back in the fold; however, I agree that this particular loss isn't a huge deal. There are lots of good OL for '14, and the staff has plenty of time to identify them and get them on campus.
If there's one area of the team that I feel supremely confident in when it comes to this staff's ability to recruit, it is the OL. Second place would be LB.
January 29th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
we lost half of our 2014 class. Impeach Hoke!!!!
January 29th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
Sam Webb says it was Michigan's call - seems like the door "isn't open for a Dawson-like return."
January 29th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
Ward is a huge raw athlete, but I wonder if he saw the classes ahead of him and realized that he'd likely spend his first couple of years developing while watching the linemen from '12 and '13 play on Saturdays. He doesn't seem like the type that you plug in as a RS frosh, but he could turn into a pretty great player after two or three years of coaching.
He's the type of high risk/high reward player that we should be taking now that we have a lot of blue chips moving into the OL in the coming year. Hopefully he'll look around and decide later that Michigan is the best fit.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:11 PM ^
Or maybe he went to the U-A Combine, met with some recruits, found out what you get when you visit schools like Ole Miss and wanted out. Lucky for him, Michigan gave him the out.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
I really wonder what kind of counsel he's getting, with the desire for early playing time. I mean, Kalis, who is mean, and big, and polished, and as ready as any OL recruit to come in, still spent a year as a redshirt. And the reality is that he won't get early PT at any of the really good schools . . . I'm sure (without checking) that Ohio, and USC, and Alabama, and Texas, and Florida, and ND, don't make a regular practice of starting freshmen on the OL. The other thing is that at Michigan, the mantra has been, "you compete every week, and there are no guarantees for PT." Mattison is really strong on this, but so are all the coaches. If you're n.ot good enough to beat out the guys ahead of you, well, you shouldn't play
January 29th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
The people around him are probably telling him what he wants to hear, that he can go in and get on the field early. I've learned in coaching that a lot of parents and family members have very inflated senses of what their family members are capable of accomplishing. It's tough for a 16- or 17-year-old kid to look at himslf objectively and realize that he probably needs a few years of development.
January 29th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^
January 29th, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^
first meeting with Jake Long.
"He’s just standing there, and he’s a very large individual,” Lewan said. “I had my shoulder pads on and he was still wider than me. It was a little bit ridiculous.”
That was a future first-rounder. How far away is the average highly regarded HS player?