the recruit: Michael Biesemier

Name: Michael Biesemier
Position: DE
Hometown: Lynchburg
School: Virginia Episcopal
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 235

24/7: 76, two stars; #97 SDE, VA #64
ESPN: 72, three stars; #140 DE, VA #41, East #217
Rivals: 5.4, two stars
Scout: two stars

Other offers: James Madison

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Despite having a grand total of six scholarship bodies on the roster at DE - not all of which are guaranteed to be on the team, actually play DE, or be healthy - it took until December for UVA to land a defensive end commitment.  Michael Biesemier (pronounced BEEZ-mai-ur, in case you were wondering) had been committed to JMU for most of the year, but the combination of a coaching change in Harrisonburg and a UVA offer made the decision to flip pretty easy.

Biesemier is a solidly-built athlete who plays three sports in high school, adding basketball and lacrosse to his resume as the seasons change.  It's safe to say he projects as a strong-side DE, though some suggest he could move inside to DT or even across to the other side of the ball; he's done all of that in high school.  The problem with such projections is that he'd have to put on at least 40 pounds to make that happen, probably more like 60 if he were to move to OL.  It doesn't make much sense to make that a goal.  However, 35 seems perfectly reasonable.

It so happens that SDE is a position of great need; the problem is that Biesemier is going to need a ton of time.  Leaving aside the universally skeptical ratings for a sec, he's got two things working against him: quickness (or a lack thereof, which would be necessary to make an earlier contribution at WDE) and the level of competition.  Biesemier comes out of the VISAA Division 3, the second-lowest level of Virginia's private-school league.  He generally plays against O-linemen his own size, not towering monstrosities like you get in college, or even in the upper levels of the public schools.

So the adjustment period will be longish, and in order to play SDE, Biesemier must have more weight.  This means redshirt, in a sane and logical world.  He's just athletic and well-built enough for London to possibly like him at special teams, so if he did get out there in that capacity, I wouldn't bat an eye. 

I wouldn't have to like it either.  The odds are already stacked against him.  Let's face it - there's a reason Biesemier has two stars almost all the way across the board and had just one college offer before his UVA one.  Part of that reason is being buried out in the countryside in a very low level of football.  Another part of that is needing a ton of work in the technique department and not possessing mind-blowing athleticism.  His strength is his calling card right now.

Optimistically, you could draw a comparison to Brent Urban - a guy offered for his body type and athleticism who needed to put on weight and spend a couple years getting accustomed to playing against D-I athletes.  Pessimistically, think LoVante' Battle - a rawish athlete with zilch offers on whom a near-lame-duck coaching staff took a flyer, and who got buried quickly when the new staff recruited over him.  There's no getting around it: Biesemier is a risk the coaching staff was forced to take by not having any commitments - or even any promising leads - 10 months into the recruiting cycle, at a position of great need.  That's the whole DE class.  The hope is that his strength holds up as he grows and in a couple years, we have a useful run-stopping DE similar to Jake Snyder.  It's at least as likely, though, that his fate is tied to this coaching staff, and a new one could try to recruit over top of him.