Recapping 2012 Commit Ben Braden

The last man up front we are recapping is Offensive Linemen Ben Braden hailing from Rockford, MI.  This kid is a load at 6'6" and around 320 pounds and he's nobody to mess with.  He is pretty versatile as well, splitting his time at offensive tackle and defensive end.  Not the highest ranked guy in the world, but one of those mid-level guys that with some great coaching can turn into a player that will carry the line, team, and program into the future.

First thing that jumps out at me about Ben is that he's a big kid.  He's over 6'5" tall and he's got long arms to go along with his 320 pounds.  Ben has good speed and quickness and does a great job getting into defenders. He's one of those kids with great athleticism and superior strength.  Ben might not play time at left tackle at Michigan in the future, but he could be a formidable right tackle for the team.  I would say that he's better in run-blocking, but is coming into his own as a pass blocker and will definitely improve as he gets more experience.  With his size and strength, it's hard to keep a kid like this on the sideline so he has the chance to play early depending on how good he does in fall camp and beyond.  Michigan isn't the deepest at offensive line, so anything is possible.  If Ben is able to improve his skills as a pass blocker, he could turn out to be one of the good ones and definitely has a legitimate shot at early playing time.



Here are the basic stats on Braden:

	ESPN	Rivals	Scout	247Sports
Height	6’5”	6’6”	6’6”	6’7”
Weight	285 lbs	285 lbs	319 lbs	295 lbs
Position	OT	OT	OT / DE	OT
Rating	3*	3*	3*	3*
Position Rank	#50	#38	#40	#40
National Rank	N/A	NR	N/A	NR

So immediately what jumps off the page is definitely the measurements.  He's at 6'6" and about 300 pounds (only because of the disparity between sites as far as the weight goes).  Ben's a 3* guy across the board and a top-50 guy at the Tackle position.  The only site that has him scouted as a Defensive End is Scout, but he will be getting his time on the offensive side.  There's pretty much a consensus that he is one of those guys that is very raw and with proper coaching can be very good.  With his size he's got a huge upside and already has good run blocking skills.  He's quite the athlete and an absolute monster in the weight room.  He has good feet and quickness, so that helps him.  His height helps him get his hands on defenders easily and he just needs to work on his technique in pass protection situations and look out.

As far as freshmen impact goes, I doubt he sees a whole lot of playing time this year unless there are some significant injury problems.  He's actually listed as the 3rd string player on the current depth chart, but he will have to beat out those guys and will have to compete with guys like Erik Magnuson and Kyle Kalis for playing time.  He might have the ability to compete with those guys, but a redshirt would be the best choice here, unless there are injury issues on the offensive line.

He's one of those kids with a ton of upside and just needs some good coaching so look to see more of him in his second year and beyond at Michigan.  Michigan has wanted to get back to having the big monster offensive linemen and Ben Braden definitely fits that mold.  If you want to play smashmouth run it down your throat pro-style football, you need the big guys up front and Ben is definitely a big guy.  At over 300 pounds and over 6'5" he already has the body so there's not much work to be done there.  Look for Ben's name to be well known in the years to come.

Here's his highlight video: