Michigan Football: Wolverines' OL Joey Burzynski out for Season

Junior walk-on Joey Burzynski, who drew his first start of the season at guard against Indiana last weekend, tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season.

Head coach Brady Hoke confirmed the news, according to Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com:

Burzynski was outplaying his pedigree in brief action this year, replacing Christian Bryant at left guard during the Penn State game and doing enough to keep the job for Week 8.

He was injured in the first quarter, though, and barely got to enjoy his first career start.

As a prospect, in stark contrast to most Michigan players, Burzynski was barely even recognized and didn't even receive a rating on the 247Sports composite.

But with hard work and toughness, he forced himself into Hoke's good graces and eventually made himself into a starting-caliber guard.

Freshman Kyle Bosch replaced Burzynski against the Hoosiers, and actually did a pretty good job in his first collegiate test. Per Baumgardner's piece on MLive.com:

"

[Bosch] had a few rookie mistakes, but by and large, his fundamentals looked smooth. The technical aspects of playing guard seem to come more natural to Bosch than they do to say, Kyle Kalis or Chris Bryant right now.

"

According to Baumgardner, Hoke even compared Bosch to a young David Baas, so if he continues to play at his current level, Michigan should be able to stomach Burzynski's on-field loss.

But even if Bosch proves to be a capable replacement, the walk-on guard will be missed for his energy and off-field presence.

He was a fun-loving locker room guy with a sweet mustache, and he also moonlighted as a biomedical engineering major with a 3.7 GPA at one of the best schools in America.

Hopefully the former walk-on can stay in good spirits, regain mobility in his knee and come back next year just as strong as ever.

Even folks in Columbus and East Lansing have to feel bad for him.