Benjamin St-Juste Michigan Exit Story
Ben details how Michigan wanted him to medically retire after 6 hamstring pulls.
We really should have gambled and started a player with chronic hamstring pulls that year. What is the worst that could happen?
What I am trying to say is, sometimes maybe there isn't a right decision and sometimes there isn't a wrong decision.
I for one am super happy he made it to the league, but sometimes it just has to be a different path and that is perfectly fine.
I am not going to assume this is a smoking gun story by any means.
Whatever, dude. You got better and ended up at Minnesota and got drafted. Congrats. Michigan clearly never recovered from your departure.
This is the correct take. It worked out for him. It worked out for us. What is there to be upset about? Everyone got what they wanted.
I use to have a connection to the M sports medicine department - and I am not necessarily surprised by this story. There seems to be a level of beaucracy and red tape that one would expect from an institution like M. But also, pretty common across all universities just, it seems, a little bit more conservative here (which probably isn't a surprise to anyone).
Maybe it's just me, but BSJ's side is... incredibly vague. He received training from Michigan's staff, and then by the time he recovered, Michigan - who needed CBs - had moved on, and he was free to transfer within conference? I'm not following the outrage, but maybe it's because his take reads a little vague to me.
It's become pretty clear over the years that Michigan's medical staff is very conservative compared to some other sports doctors. They will preserve the long term future health of an athlete rather than try to force them on the field if there is chronic issues. To some athletes, this is seen as a bad thing I guess
All a matter of risk tolerance. The Michigan doctors may have been "right" to urge caution at the same time that the Indiana/Minnesota doctors may have been "right" that the risk was acceptable.
I am right in thinking Minnesota’s football brand has a greater ability to take this kind of risk.
Michigan, the football brand, can’t afford to take as many risks because the PR microscope is massive here.
If you want national attention, run a Michigan story. It is a Blessing and a curse for all the historic blue bloods on top the mountain.
Cool. Fun story for Michigan. Glad we're the only ones. At the time it seemed like it was in his best interest.
ALSO, I would point out, since he says its a business - and I don't disagree - if the coaches really thought that he had something to offer, wouldn't they have kept him around? Seems a little inconsistent to me.
Or, perhaps its somewhere in the middle - they didnt want him to take a risk, and SO they had to move on, but would help him rehab to be healthy. It worked out well for him.
Maybe he and Hunter should write a book together about how the worst time of their lives was at the awful school they chose, stayed at, and helped launch them to where they are today.
Lets also ask him about the same story in the alternate universe, where he tore it badly and walked with a limp (not pimp style) for the rest of his life and his family said that the coaches and Michigan don't care about players at all.
No winning sometimes, no matter what you do.
this.
injuries suck, and medicine is both art and science. reasonable people can interpret things differently, and have different opinions on the best next action.
i'm glad he was able to work through it, and i don't blame our staff for being cautious.
Yep. And I'd just toss in there as a supplement, that given the previous coach *and* AD were fired in part because of the handling of a not-so-conservative medical decision, the institution probably should err on the side of conservatism more than the average school.
And if he stayed at Michigan and got a 7th career ending hamstring pull the story would be that Michigan forced him to play because they needed cornerbacks and rushed him onto the field too soon because players are just a cog in a big machine.
Bingo. If your scenario had occurred, the criticism of Harbaugh and Michigan's medical staff would be 10x more strident than what this claim by St Juste will create.
Good for him he got healthy, got on the field, and got to the NFL.
Not sure Michigan’s doctors didn’t clear guy who was always injured and never practiced is much of an indictment.
Interesting contrast to DJ Turner’s journey. He also had leg muscle issues dating from high school. Working with the strength and conditioning staff, the condition improves to the point he has fastest time at the NFL combine and becomes a 2nd round draft pick. Also, the jury is still out on Erick All’s surgical procedure and his long term prognosis.
This is an important point. How many times for how many players do the medical, S&C staff and coaches do right by players? My guess is it's often and more often than the couple of fringe cases that go the other way.
Any way you look at it, this was a failure by the Michigan athletic staff. They thought he should not play again and forced him to leave, after which he clearly showed he could have played and done well here. You wonder now if there are some players that were told this and decided to end their careers prematurely. Thank God in St. Juste's case, he disregarded the advice and was still able to achieve his dreams.
"any way you look at it?" really? sheesh, whatever, man.
Which sports blog was it that all but crucified the former AD over the Shane Morris debacle, I forget.
what does that have to do with this, i forget.
Agree. They were objectively wrong which is proven by the outcome. You can look at it with maize colored glasses and say Michigan was just doing what they thought was best and everything worked out. That doesn't change the fact that their medical opinion/assessment was wrong and the kid didn't seem to have a well informed choice in the matter.
Or, St Juste hit the right luck on incredible odds. M doctors may have said, “risk of serious injury is extremely high” and St Juste was among the 5% or whatever who didn’t suffer the consequence. Doesn’t make the M doctors wrong in their recommendation/decision.
Kinda like how M had a 2% chance to win the conference in 2021. I got a tee shirt that commemorates how they overcame those odds. Bought it right here.
Michigan took a risk/benefit analysis, and it didn't work out in their favor. The "loser" in this saga is Michigan Football. By doing what they thought was best for their program AND the athlete, they missed out on having an NFL caliber CB taking the field for them.
St. Juste bet on himself, xferred, and made it to the NFL. And yet, he's the victim now?
oh, it’s a black and white, binary, “right” or “wrong,” is it? really? NO chance that he could have reinjured himself, huh? thanks, o message board doctor.
He posted a thorough video on TikTok this weekend and came off very calm and collected. His story didn't jump around, and he wasn't overly negative about the staff or university. It made me believe his story.
I'm ok with it
I pulled both of my hamstrings right after college (actually the day after graduation.) For a long time I would pull them whenever I tried to have a burst of excelleration. It really sucked not being confident that I could run without hurting myself. Having six pulls (after the first ones?) is a lot. The odds on him coming back at a high level probably weren't great. I think he's a great player and was bummed when he was processed because we needed him.
The fact that his teammate at MN from Florida was processed for the same thing sort of shows you that this is ALL of college football, not just Michigan. St. Juste's advice that it is a business is good advice.
...and this is why a player getting medical'ed should require it come from an independent medical board with no involvement by the universities.
There is too much conflict of interest in both directions.
I wouldn't be opposed to that. I think the bigger problem is in the other direction - team physicians being pressured to clear players who may not be recovered.
I don't see either 1) how U-M stood to benefit from St-Juste being declared medically unfit or 2) why the decision was egregious. Apparently, he injured his hamstring six times. That's a lot. We cleared him to return after the first five hamstring injuries, but after the sixth time, decided to finally draw the line. That doesn't seem unreasonable, and an independent medical examiner may well have drawn the same conclusion.
"I don't see either 1) how U-M stood to benefit from St-Juste being declared medically unfit "
They get a scholarship to use on someone who can play now, as opposed to someone who can maybe play later.
I don’t agree that St Juste’s scholarship was worth much to give to someone else given the timing and situation on the roster. However, you make a great point for today’s college football with the portal. It’s conceivable teams could pressure for medicals to use the scholarship to portal in someone else.
Teams in the SEC were notorious for doing it pre-NIL with players that just weren't seeing the field.
Two things here: first, from the story, it seems like Michigan's doctors made a call but were wrong. They were not wrong ethically, just wrong about what the outcome would be if he kept playing. I have no issue with that.
Second: it seems like the real issue was the communication with the player himself. Given where the program was at the time, it wouldn't surprise me if better communication was one of the key components of the major culture shift in the last few years.
Except you have All and McNamara saying versions of the same thing. If big “IF” that was an issue in St. Juste’s situation, it doesn’t appear to have changed.
I'm glad that he told his story. It also sounds like it was at least as much of a football business decision as it was a medical decision by the team.
I have no issue with medical staff being more cautious than other universities - but if they had him sign documents renouncing his athletic scholarship for a medical without explaining what the documents were and providing legal counsel - it's a bad look.
Michigan should not be sneaking things through in contracts like a sleazy car salesmen and excusing it by saying "he should have read the contract"
BSJ has already missed 13 games in his first two NFL seasons due to injuries. He just came off of the IR again this spring...
*Ron Rivera has even expressed his concerns over BSJ's ability to stay healthy.*
It's great that BSJ was able to make it to The League, and sign a nice contract, but at some point (sooner than later) he'll need to remain healthy or hang up the cleats. After six hamstring pulls at Michigan I don't believe it was out of line to recommend a change of scenery.
Just my non-professional $.02.
Yeah... but he's made $2 million (with another $1 million guaranteed this year) whether he remains healthy or not.
That is $3 million he may never have made in his entire lifetime if he took a medical scholarship.
If he gets hurt one last time, on the field, Michigan would have been eviscerated by the press for basically killing children.
The national media uses the story to attack Harbaugh and negatively recruit Michigan as a glue factory.
End of story. This is obvious. The worst case scenario was nuclear. Always avoid that at all costs.
For every St Juste that transfers and gets into the League there are 3-4 Matt Falcons.
I’m glad he got a chance to give it a go after high school but the 2 torn ACLs in HS was enough for UofM to offer the medical scholarship. He took a year to rehab but he was never the same.
https://www.mlive.com/broncos/2018/06/rb_matt_falcon_ends_wmu_footba.html
Matt Falcon had multiple torn ACLs. St. Juste had strained hamstrings.
This is a case of apples and Buicks.
iirc, after Falcon tore is ACL in his JR year of high school Michigan asked/told him to have the surgery and then sit out his SR year to rehab and then let the Michigan doctors evaluate his knee when he got on campus and as long as he did that they would honor his scholarship... him and or his HS coaches decided otherwise and he played, and then he tore his ACL again, Michigan yanked his scholarship offer...
This is actually false - a medical hardship means a SA stays on athletic scholarship however due to their medical situation, their scholarship(s) does not count towards the full NCAA equivalency. However, if the SA participates at any point then the scholarship is not waived and is counted again.
Ambry Thomas was right behind Ben at the same position and was sick and hospitalized for a month. Ambry’s condition improved and he went to the NFL in the third round the same year Ben did.
Ben shared a story about a meeting with Doctors, Jim and Ben’s parents. Ben stopped short of fully explaining what his father said, but claims his Dad blew up in the meeting. He also said Jim is now a different person since 2020. (I took that to mean after that awful season, Jim changed)
Ben holds a Michigan degree, but we are hearing only bits of this story.
Did he read what he signed or did he just blindly sign it? Even when I was in college I knew better not to sign something without actually reading and understanding it's contents.
Difference of opinion. St-Juste felt he was ready to go, Michigan felt he was far more likely to never play a down again, and probably weren't excited about the prospect of him taking up a roster spot for 3 more years. We all know how badly they needed cornerbacks. In my mind, M would have kept him around if they believed in him.
The college football landscape was different then, but if something like this happens again in the NIL era, I don't think M doing something like this is unethical.