Exit: Benjamin St-Juste
Michigan's spring roster hit yesterday with only one surprise: redshirt sophomore cornerback Benjamin St-Juste was not on it. An insider posted to our message board, and 247’s Steve Lorenz confirmed last night that St-Juste has asked for and received a medical hardship waiver, meaning he can continue to receive financial aid but his career is done (and he no longer counts against the scholarship limit).
It’s a bummer since Michigan liked St-Juste enough his freshman year to go on a tall defensive back recruiting binge in the class after. An unknown Quebecois prospect who flew up the recruiting rankings after appearing at The Opening, St-Juste was the first of the many lengthy, bendy, hip-swingy cornerback prospects that Michigan began recruiting in earnest after the staff saw what Jeremy Clark (or Richard Sherman for the Stanford alums) could do. Michigan spotted the Canadian in the summer of 2015, but St-Juste chose to delay his matriculation to 2017 (Canadian high schools have 13 grades). The 247 and Rivals scouts used that year to catch up, skeptical Scout.com was folded into 247, and that’s how a guy from the land of Emmanuel Casseuses arrived as a 19-year-old composite four-star.
St-Juste was on track to pay that off; he got on the field in 12 games as a freshman in 2017, mostly on special teams as Lavert Hill, David Long, and Brandon Watson dominated playing time, and classmate Ambry Thomas was a more polished true freshman prospect. But St-Juste battled injuries all last season, and apparently that was going to continue.
St-Juste was the tallest and most exciting of his ilk, but thanks to the 2018 class Michigan has more St-Juste-like (Jeremy Clarketypes?) redshirt freshmen on the roster that you can fit in a midsize SUV, plus a pair of more cornerbackian true freshmen and a preferred walk-on (Hunter Reynolds) who was last year’s scout team player of the year to compete behind projected starters Lavert Hill and Ambry Thomas.
He does add to the attrition counter, but not on the bad side of it. St-Juste is just the fifth (Chris Fox, Grant Newsome, Ondre Pipkins, Corey Malone-Hatcher) to be offered a medical scholarship since 2015 (Pipkins chose to forgo his to play at Texas Tech after Michigan’s doctors wouldn’t clear him to play). Including Peters’ all-but announced impending departure, 65 players have left the program with eligibility remaining under Harbaugh. However, and despite this program sharing space with Stanford/Notre Dame for extremely sensitive disciplinary triggers, just 26 players have left without a degree. This leaves Michigan in the odd position of having an extremely high benign (early NFL, degree-and-a-handshake, medical) level of attrition but also an extremely high academic success rate (affected by dismissals and non-grad transfers).
i would hope that he heals enough to be able to realize all that obvious potential at a decent school. that would be so frustrating. the time to play the game in the course of one's life is so short, and to not be able to take the field would be difficult to handle.
March 23rd, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
Unless the rules have changed very recently, athletes cannot return to play after taking a medical exemption, either to their current school or another.
March 23rd, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
thanks for that mr. miggle. i had thought there was a way that others had gotten back on the field at other schools. not so?
March 23rd, 2019 at 12:18 PM ^
It was recommended that Pipkins take a medical. He refused. Even though Michigan would not clear him to play he counted against the 85 limit until he transferred.
There have been a few others in the same position. Also a few, Chris Fox comes to mind, like St. Juste.
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
Didn't Canteen take a medical and then transfer to ND as a grad transfer?
March 23rd, 2019 at 12:04 PM ^
He had shoulder issues and sat out a season because of them but did not take a medical. He was a grad transfer.
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
That seems really unjust to me. I know exceptions can be abused but the priority of any rules should be the future and welfare of the individual. If he is able to regain his health and play again, he should be allowed to.
I don't know if you are right about this rule. Even if you are not, when it comes to football, NCAA rules are about preserving the monopolistic status of the schools and preserving the NCAA's cash cow. Athletes are of secondary consideration.
On a related note, I love the Fields & Martel rulings. They clearly expose the paper thin hypocrisy of NCAA transfer rules.
March 23rd, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
The first paragraph implies he accepted the medical hardship waiver, which means he can’t play again. Pipkins turned it down.
[Edit: ninja’ed since it apparently took me fourteen minutes to write that, working on a clever comment that said “Exit:” isn’t the right tag but then I couldn’t think of anything better ...]
If your name is Rasmus, but your on the internet, wouldn't it be Erasmus? I mean, its not "in the shadows", but its a cooler name.
/hopes insidery joke lands.
! I’d never heard of The Rasmus, so thanks for that, but as for Erasmus he’s awesome and I’ve been told I look Dutch but the name comes from my Danish grandfather Rasmus Rasmussen. If I’d had a son, he’d have gotten the name, but it didn’t happen.
"...redshirt freshmen on the roster that you can fit in a midsize SUV..."
Perhaps not the best comparison when one remembers Tractor Traylor, et all...
Sorry to see BSJ have to go, this is a crappy situation for him. The team will survive, but I hope he stays positive, earns his degree, and stays successful.
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
rainbows and unicorns......
March 23rd, 2019 at 10:05 AM ^
I am disappoint that there was no french flavor to this post's title.
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
Au revoir et bon chance
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
Get healthy get your degree and good luck in your future young man. You will always be a Michigan man
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
that's a shame; didn't realize that he couldn't play for another school if he accepted a medical hardship
i was super excited to see St.Juste perform... best of luck to the kid in whatever path he chooses
If you think about, this is best of both worlds for SJ. He gets a free ride and a degree from UM and doesn’t have to get his brains beat out on the football field.
I can see calling that "a silver lining", but it isn't the best of all worlds. Turning pro and making millions while avoiding injury would probably be better in his mind.
Canadian schools have 12 grades. The grade 13 is a Quebec thing.
yeah sorry I didn't want to get into details. The way it was explained to me is Ontario went to 12 grades after the 90s, Quebec kept a 13th grade with an acronym name that eludes my memory, and nobody gives a shit about the other provinces.
Yes, it's only in Quebec. My Canadian nieces pronounce it C-JEP. Googled for the official acronym, with the bonus of being able to copy in the full name with the proper accent marks: "CEGEP, or Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel." They're English-speaking Montrealers, but the English name given on the CEGEP website (College of General and Vocation Education) doesn't go with the acronym, nor is it quite as poetic or impressive.
"A pre-college university program unique to Quebec. Students from Quebec wishing to receive post-secondary education either in or outside of Quebec must first enroll in and complete a CEGEP program for at least one year."
Hoped knowing about St. Juste would help convert them to M football. [Biakabutuka came too early.] Sad we can't watch him, but bravo to him for putting his education first.
Nobody gives a shit about the other provinces? Come on Seth. There are lots of Michigan folk here in B.C. including some significant contributors to the hockey team over the years.
Love the site and the MGoPodcast.
Oh yeah ... we have 12 grades in BC.
Just quoting an Ontarioan
March 23rd, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
CEGEP is not high school. It is 11 years of grade school, 2 years of what is essentially junior college in Quebec.
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