jack stewart

A pair of exits are on tap today for Michigan Football. The first one is official, as DL/OL Jack Stewart entered his name into the transfer portal yesterday: 

Michigan DL Jack Stewart has entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer.@MaizeBlueReview

— NCAA Transfer Portal (@RivalsPortal) April 19, 2022

Stewart was the lowest-ranked member of the six man offensive line class back in 2019. A three star recruit, Stewart ranked 573rd in the 24/7 Composite, listed as an offensive lineman out of New Canaan, Connecticut. He was considered a lottery ticket recruit and Brian described him as a "wildcard" in his recruiting profile three years ago. Stewart enrolled in the summer of 2019 and over three seasons at Michigan, never saw the field.

Stewart underwent a positional switch during that time, as he moved from OL to DL during the 2020-21 offseason, when it became clear that it wasn't happening for Stewart on the offensive line and defensive line seemed weaker. Still, he didn't appear in a game on the defensive line in 2021 and with young prospects like Rayshaun Benny and George Rooks passing him on the depth chart, the writing was on the wall. Not much else to say about a guy who we never saw play football at Michigan. 

The second exit is not official, but after an offseason of confusion surrounding his status and now an ominous Instagram post, it seems like DT Donovan Jeter may finally be moving on: 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Donovan Jeter (@donovanjeter95)

Jeter was a four star prospect way back in 2017 out of Beaver Falls, PA. His long and winding Michigan career began rather quietly, as not much was heard from Jeter during his first two seasons, redshirting in 2017 and appearing in only seven games in 2018 as a reserve. Then during the 2018-19 offseason we were treated to heaps of Jeter praise by Don Brown and the Michigan coaching staff, who had penciled him in for a starting DT role next to Carlo Kemp. That largely turned out to be the "well this guy has to be good or else we're in trouble" type of hype that often busts. And, well, if you remember the 2019 Wisconsin game, you know that it did. Jeter missed the first two games of the 2019 regular season, returned against Wisconsin, and was subsequently paved into oblivion. 

Despite a rough 2019, the Jeter hype did not die off heading into the 2020 COVID season, where he was again a starter. The opening game of that season saw Jeter get the highlight of his career, the ole Fat Man Touchdown after Michael Barrett rocked Tanner Morgan on a blitz and Jeter caught the loose ball out of mid-air and scampered for a score: 

That highlight was really the only memorable part of his 2020 season, where he was an adequate run defender but offered little-to-no pass rushing ability. Jeter stayed at Michigan for his fifth year in 2021, but this time was no longer a starter, passed on the depth chart by Mazi Smith and Chris Hinton. 2021 Jeter was mostly the same player he'd been the previous year, a merely decent rotational piece who would make the occasional good play in run defense. The good play that stands out from 2021 was this one in The Game: 

The most recent talk about Jeter was that the coaching staff was interested in having Jeter return for a sixth season using his COVID-shirt, but he was not with the team during the spring. Though we don't yet have final clarification, the Instagram post embedded in this piece seems to be pointing towards one outcome. If that changes, we will update his status with a future post. There is no content after the jump. 

They put out a spring roster. It only has a few things of interest in it but we respect tradition so here’s your jerk:

Here’s my comprehensive roster file, and our updated Depth Chart by Class.

POSITION CHANGES

Jack Stewart OL—>“DL”. It looks like one of the bench guards is going to take a shot at the much shallower depth chart at defensive tackle. Stewart was kind of a lost man at guard, where Zak Zinter played as a true freshman and several more touted guys in Stewart’s class like Barnhart, Keegan, Jones, and Rumler have gotten a lot more mention.

David Ojabo “DL”—>”LB”. This is not much of a change. Ojabo arrived late in practice last year and when he was technically a SAM and in fact just an edge rusher. The move to more of a base multiple has a job for that called linebacker.

[Hit THE JUMP for weight changes, early enrollees, departures, # changes, and other things that matter a great deal]

Previously: The Story. Podcast 12.4A, 12.4B, 12.4C. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End.

Depth Chart

The reader probably does not have to be reminded that the previous two times Michigan has lost a Rimington-quality center to the NFL the subsequent season was a disaster. David Molk graduates; Michigan flops Elliott Mealer and Patrick Barnum the week before the season. Denard is murdered most foul. Mason Cole graduates; Patrick Kugler steps in. Wilton Speight and Brandon Peters are murdered most foul. John O'Korn starts the Ohio State game.

You're probably thinking "let's not do that again," and hoo boy you've never been more correct about anything in your life. Let's not do that again. Please, please, please. Oh cruel and malevolent gods of the universe, surely we have suffered enough.

CRUEL AND MALEVOLENT GODS OF THE UNIVERSE: no

what?

CAMGOTU: no one has ever suffered enough

maybe you could balance out the suffering some

CAMGOTU: get bent nimrod, ger berks

is that… go bucks?

CAMGOTU: ger berks

goddammit

Anyway, if there is a weapon in Michigan's arsenal that can possibly mitigate the fact that Cthulhu is real and wears an Andy Katzenmoyer jersey to formal events, it's Ed Warinner. Warinner instantly repaired Michigan's disastrous blitz pickup schemes under Tim Drevno, orchestrated the bar-none best-organized Michigan OL your author has ever charted, and is an advocate of making things easy to pick up. This press conference quote from shortly after his hire still stands out:

I just want to understand, ‘simplify,’ a little bit more. I mean, the guys have been talking about it since you got here. And you’re saying, offensive line is complicated. In your mind, what does simplify mean? The scheme’s not simple?

“Well just how you present it. Like, there’s a lot of things that can happen on every play. And nobody knows what, before the play starts, what of those are gonna happen. And realistically, I know there’s six things that could happen. If I give all six of those scenarios to a player, then he won’t play very fast. So I have to simplify that — what are the two most likely things to happen on this play, in this situation. And it’s A or B, and react to one of those two. And if he’s right 80 percent of the time, we win. Cause if the line grades out at 80 percent, we’re gonna win.

A quote from Chris Evans after Warinner arrived and Cesar Ruiz ascended to the throne sums it up:

“How it was last year, it’s like, no matter what, if he comes, you gotta block him,” Evans explained. “Now Cesar’s in there and he can adjust it and you can go at it like that."

Maybe. Maybe one goddamn time.

[After THE JUMP: one time!]