DE Josh Malin commits to Baylor over Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas Tech

The fellas over at BearsTruth.com (Baylor's 247Sports site) are reporting that Steele DE Josh Malin, long considered a Baylor lean, if not a lock, has finally given his verbal pledge to the Bears today at the camp in Waco. Malin gives Baylor 21 commitments for the 2014 class.

It's hard to know how a guy with an offer list including schools like Oklahoma, Baylor, and Missouri "only" has a grade of 82 according to 247Sports, but he does. And this is one of those situations, as a result, where I'm going to tell you to throw rankings mostly out the window. Or just go set them in the corner if you don't want to get rid of them entirely. Malin is a player our staff offered at the first Junior Day in February, back before we had anybody else committed or knew how this class would shake out. It's safe to say, then, that this is somebody they've wanted the entire time, regardless who else they had.

According to his profile at 247Sports, Malin is a 6-5, 250-pound strongside DE, which typically means in recruiting parlance that he's more of a run-stopper than a pass-rusher. I can't confirm that, though, because his HUDL profile is completely blank. Not protected, like some, but completely blank.

If I'm naming guys Malin reminds me of, I go directly to Beau Blackshear, the DE-turned-DT from Baylor's 2011 recruiting class who chose the Bears over Tech, TCU, and others. Blackshear had a bit more weight his senior year than Malin does now, but Malin has more height. Given that we've turned Blackshear and fellow-2011er Javonte Magee into DTs, we may be looking to do the same with Malin, who has similar size. Or we may have done so previously out of a need that no longer exists. It's hard to say either way.

The key here is that Baylor's 2014 class is one step closer to completion today with a new member on the defensive side that chose us over Oklahoma. That in and of itself is a huge win. So join me in welcoming the newest Bear, Josh Malin!