Andrew Stueber Out For Some Weeks
Andrew Stueber, who has been competing with Jalen Mayfield for the starting job at right tackle since the start of spring workouts, suffered a knee injury in practice Tuesday and will be out for at least the start of the season, according to a source close with the team.
It's possible he could miss significant time, though the severity of the injury remains to be seen.
This is bad, but not horrible. Mayfield was reputed to have a very slight edge in the RT battle and all indications from inside the program have been that both guys are starter-caliber. It does imperil Michigan's depth. The loser of the RT battle was always going to be the #1 guy off the bench in the event of an injury; now Stephen Spanellis pushes to the forefront at the interior positions. Another tackle injury would probably see either Ben Bredeson flip out to tackle or the insertion of Ryan Hayes. Neither of these would be a great situation.
Hopefully the knee scan reveals this is more of a one-month thing than a three-month thing.
August 15th, 2019 at 1:21 PM ^
Speedy recovery Mr. Steuber.
August 15th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
Oline of all places, we have depth.
That sounds crazy to say but finally goddamn.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
This sucks, but given that injuries happen to every team to some degree - I can accept an injury where we had a 1a and 1b type situation. Lots of other spots on the team where an injury is far more damaging...
August 15th, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
First Boogie Cousins, now this! All big guys playing sports...Please stay at home on the couch today!!!!
August 15th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
But but but we've got depth now
August 15th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
That is a shame, as Stueber appeared to be Coach Ed's leader in the clubhouse. Mayfield should be ready, though, given the battle they were locked in. Hopefully, the knee is not too serious and Stueber can make it back to full strength for this season.
August 15th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
The main difference -- in terms of impact to the team -- between this and Grant Newsome is that this one uses up existing depth. Past tackle injuries had no depth at all.
So that's something. Yeah we're in a bad spot if another tackle gets injured, but name me the programs that could go through four tackles in a single season and shrug it off.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
I don't see many similarities personally.
Newsome was starting at LT on an undefeated team ranked #4, Stueber was in a battle to get the chance to start at RT and seemingly losing. Newsome got hurt mid-season, Stueber got hurt a few weeks before. And there is also a big difference between a career ending injury and a possible 1 month thing.
So the main differences are everything other than an OT for UM getting hurt?
August 15th, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
Ugh. Injuries suck.
August 15th, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
Just when we think we can have nice things on the OL...
August 15th, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
No injury is good, but an injury early in camp is better than one later or during the season. At least the back up now gets starter level coaching.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
CRAP!
August 15th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
Not catastrophic but not great.
I really doubt that Bredeson, who has done absolutely nothing but play guard his entire career except for a couple of weeks in camp before his freshman season when Michigan’s OL situation was desperate, will flip out to tackle if one other guy goes down.
I mean, I’ve been wrong before, but “Bredeson to tackle?” Has been asked in each of the last three years and it has never been close to being a possibility. He’s a guard, and our interior OL starters may be the best unit on the whole team, WRs included.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
Perhaps not ideal to move Bredeson to RT or LT (if necessary) but IIRC he played his entire high school career at tackle and was damn good at it. I think he’s versatile enough to do so a la Mason Cole.
Also, our OG depth seems more talented, and deeper, than OT.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Agreed, they are not putting Bredeson at OT. Hayes is likely next man up at OT. Beyond that we could be looking at burning a redshirt for one of the frosh (Keegan or Jones). Stueber out for the season would really suck ... depth at OT is not that good. Backup depth for the interior is solid and maybe we do need to flip someone out there, but I doubt it is any of the current interior starters.
August 15th, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
Michigan OL has been rolling with nothing but interior guys kicked out for too damn long. I hope we can keep the interior players in the interior and find someone better suited to LT or RT than a converted gaurd.
August 15th, 2019 at 3:36 PM ^
If JBB can play RT, Bredeson surely can. That whole down-G thing from last season was essentially having Runyan and Bredeson swap places after the snap. Just solely going by body, Bredeson looks a lot more like a tackle than does ol’ T-Rex arms Runyan.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
I never believed the "Runyon might move inside in case of injury" chatter. I've always believed that Spanellis would be first off the bench for any injury on the interior positions.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:35 PM ^
Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.
Spanellis is behind Ruiz no matter. But if Stuber was healthy, he and Mayfield at tackles with Runyon replacing the other guard makes sense since Spanellis is a little light for anything other than center.
But "first off bench to fill interior" would still be Spanellis.
August 15th, 2019 at 7:06 PM ^
Spanellis is listed at 295, down from 307 two years ago. He has shown he can play at guard. I think he is the third (maybe 4th) best guard on the team behind only Bredeson. Onwenu and, possibly, Ruiz. I think a line with Runyon and Spanellis is better than a line with Runyon and pre-injury Stueber.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
Remember the days when we'd lose a player at Tackle and it spelled DOOM?
Speedy recovery Mr. Stueber.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Nice things, I want nice things! That includes O-line/OT depth.
Get well soon Mr Stueber!
August 15th, 2019 at 2:21 PM ^
PLEASE DON'T let this be the harbinger of things to come. Have we not paid our dues to the Michigan-hating football God already?....
August 15th, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
Michigan has been extremely fortunate with injuries over the past few years compared to other teams. Hopefully this isn't a regression to the mean year.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
I don't have the data but it seems we suffered critical injuries such as a OT or DT or QB or damn good WR. Numbers may not be the same but the importance of that one person changed the course of the season. I guess we don't have the depth that other teams did. Thank God we finally have depth.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:49 PM ^
Grant Newsome’s knee, Luiji Vilain’s knees, Tarik Black’s feet, Christian Turner’s ankle and hammy, Rashan Gary’s shoulder, etc.., all say hello.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
MGoDoctors...other than and bruise or sprain, what knee injury is 1 month?
I feel like we wouldn't know if it was a bruise or sprain. Guys get those all the time and they're day to day until they're ready. We would've just heard that he sat out practice and he's working through something.
August 15th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
An ACL tear is immediately obvious (knee swelling is like a balloon), but an MCL tear doesn't swell nearly as much. Typically, you have to wait ~2 weeks for the swelling to subside to get an MRI to evaluate an ACL tear. I read that he had an MRI immediately afterwards (Tues night), so there is hope it is an MCL issue only and he can get PT for a few weeks and then play with it for the season. That can be possible depending on the extent of the MCL damage.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
Heal up big fella.
August 15th, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
Bummer for Stueber. Wish him a speedy recovery.
I believe the general consensus is that Mayfield has the higher ceiling and is more athletic... but I do remember Stueber’s nastiness in last years MSU game. Was great to see after the Hoke years of our O line being manhandled by Sparty and generally any defensive front 7 with a pulse.
August 15th, 2019 at 3:46 PM ^
Get well soon Stueber!
August 15th, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
So maybe a one month thing? Maybe a 3 month thing? If we're sure it isn't an 8 month thing that's a good thing.
August 15th, 2019 at 9:54 PM ^
So on the Jansen podcast update he had Coach Ed tell us Hayes is next man up at OT then they have moved Honigford out to OT as the third string.
August 15th, 2019 at 10:01 PM ^
Coach Ed is a stud OL guy. If we can keep him for the next few years, we are f-ing golden.
August 15th, 2019 at 10:05 PM ^
Not the news I was hoping for tonight. 
Comments