Bulls' commit Ward cancels official visits to Miami, Florida State and UCF after mystery visit
Eddie Fernandez -- 247 Sports USF Insider
Behind closed doors, USF head coach Malcolm Francois has been campaigning for one of USF's verbal commits --- who were initially committed to Skip Holtz and not his staff -- to become an ambassador for the class. Instead, they kept taking visits to other schools and some even decommitted.
Francois finally has his ambassador and it took a bit of coyness and an overnight car trip as four-star running back Leon Ward re-committed to the Bulls and shut down his recruitment, cancelling any plans of a visit to Florida State, Miami and UCF.
Ward was initially expected to be on campus this weekend when the Bulls play East Carolina in a weekend that will feature QB Grant Oliver, WRs Tyrone Gibbons and Chris Walker, OTs David Mitchell and Terry Scales, LBs Alfred Jordan, DBs Antwan Shaw and Tavarious Bailey and TEs Thomas Moore and Mike Henry. With the visit coming up, Ward started to be in more direct contact with Francois and Francois made a surprise visit to Ward's game on Friday night. Francois then visited Ward at his home and right there on the spot, Ward and his family agreed for the four-star running back to go to Tampa and spend Saturday on campus.
"It was like 2 A.M. when we were on the road," said Ward on the Stampede Podcast hosted by X-Man and Caesar, "It was actually cool and stuff, I got to see coach [Francois] outside of a football setting and he's a cool dude."
Ward's visit on Saturday was different then his other typical visits to USF. This time, he was just an observer to the team's regular day as they lifted, practiced and got a chance to eat with the team. NCAA rules forced Ward to pay for his own meal as this wasn't an official visit. By the end of the day, Ward committed to the Bulls and shut down his recruitment.
Listed at six-feet and 186 pounds with legit 4.4 speed, Ward joins an interesting mix at running back. Leading back Marcus Shaw is a senior and Michael Pierre will be a red-shirt senior next season, leaving the starting slot wide open for the 2015 season. With a year of college strength and conditioning along with nutrition, Ward should be a contender to get some snaps in 2014 before becoming a legitimate feature back option as a sophomore.