Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing.

Quickly: Hoss.

Draft Projection: Probably a Day 3 guy given most teams see him as a swing guard. He's got 4th round value on the right team, but is probably a reach there because so many teams won't be interested. 6th round is good value. He should get drafted, would be a steal to get him as a UDFA since he can legit hang at tackle.

NFL Comp: Rob Havenstein. I mean, you could name just about any Wisconsin lineman and Stueber would fit right in. Huge, heavy, best as the fullcrum of a power rushing attack, feet that everyone thinks should make him a guard. I went with Havenstein because he had the same sort of pre-draft process where everyone went nuts for his height, length, and hand size, then sighed when the shuttle and cone numbers came in. And Havenstein has stuck at tackle despite everyone back to the recruiting rankers said he should slide down to guard.

What's his story? It was hard to rate him coming out of Connecticut with just one year of playing football, but Michigan fell in love at a camp, thought Stueber was pretty polished already, and suggested he might be able to start as a freshman. He did (as a redshirt one), but somehow got his entire sample against elites. He faced Kenny Willikes in his most extended spot duty, and got his first start against Nick Bosa and Chase Young, quickly followed by Jachai Polite of Florida in the bowl game. It went…okay! That should have been off to the races, but Stueber lost his 2019 season to injury. In a shortened 2020 he was at times at guard and more effective at tackle. He finally got a season of stability at right tackle, proving his surprising adroitness at pass protection no mirage, and his hossiness in the power run game no joke. He was never dominant, but he was consistently good, showing equal amounts of power and smarts, splitting the difference between our two extreme Michigan comps of Jake Long and Ben Braden.

Positives: Perfect tackle's frame, hands, and length. Huge, heavy, strong, and smart. Came to football late so no bad habits. Has already seen a murderer's row of NFL edge defenders, including practice reports that he's held his own against Ojabo/Hutchinson/Paye/Winovich/Uche. Very good bend for his size. Awareness has saved Michigan's bacon many times:

Big 4th down conversion.

Andrew Stueber gets a two-fer and Mike Ownenu just buries his man.

Hell of a job, men. pic.twitter.com/KnptOjU4hS

— Due# (@JDue51) November 18, 2018

That was a freshman!

Negatives: The feet, and then if you're projecting him to guard his size starts to become a detriment, as low tackles will always manage to get under him, something which came out at the senior bowl. Struggles in outside zone, which goes back to the feet.

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What others say: After some excitement early in the pre-draft process, Stueber was labeled a 5th or 6th round pick to most, and a guard by almost all. PFF has the 14th guard off the board at #202, which would be mid-6th round, acceding that his coaches call him "one of the smartest football guys" in the program but could be talking about any undrafted Wisconsin tackle of the last century:

He is a functional run blocker and creates movement on down blocks, but he has some stiffness in his lower body and must improve his pad level to create movement. Overall, Stueber has NFL size, length and smarts, but he doesn’t have the athleticism to hold up at tackle and needs to improve his balance and sustain skills to earn a living at guard. He has the potential to be a dependable backup who can step in and hold his own if asked to pinch-hit as a starting guard.

Brett Kollman puts Stueber in a group of guys he believes should move to guard because of foot speed, but could be Pro Bowlers at guard because they mash.

For a positive spin, The Draft Network's Bryan Perez had Stueber the #6 OL target the Bears should look at:

…still lacks the kind of lateral quickness I like to see from an offensive tackle. He’s a big, barrel-bodied player who carries most of his weight in his upper half, and, simply put, he just looks like a guard. He’ll need those exterior bumpers to hold up against speed rushers, but as an offensive lineman combatting power players, he’ll do just fine.

Perez thinks Stueber will drop to Day 3, but be good value there.

Our Scheme/Best Scheme: Gap and Inside Zone. Let's not kid ourselves.

2021 Grading

The following numbers are based on my 2021 charting in Upon Further Review. For runs, one point is roughly equivalent to an action that affected the play by 5 yards, i.e. zero points are awarded for simply filling an assignment. In pass protection offensive linemen only get negative points for allowing successful rushes: –1 if their breakdown gave the QB a chance to escape it (or if fault was shared), –2 if it didn't, and the rare –3 goes out when he offered no resistance. Protection% is dropback snaps minus total pass pro negatives over opportunities.

Just nine negative points in a season of passing is one of the best protection ratings we've ever charted. Maybe the best. Of course it's contextual: Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara liked to do his reads before the snap and seldom held onto the ball very long. On the other hand, everyone else on the line had way more minuses than that. Fellow OT Ryan Hayes (-22), and interior linemen Keegan (-20), Vastardis (-24), and Zinter (-18) all had at least twice as many mistakes against pass-rushers despite many of them missing time to injury.

The thing I found interesting when totaling it up like this is the Inside Zone vs Power run success. Keep in mind however, Stueber's job as the pivot was often to seek out linebackers downfield. The doubles of inside zone are very much his alley, but since every team in the NFL runs Inside Zone (IE block the guy in front of you and combo a guy if there isn't one play). Those are all moderate numbers except for the pass protection.

Michigan only had one bad game of pass protection, when Hayes got torn up by Penn State's Arnold Ebiketie while Stueber held things quiet on the Jesse Luketa side. Oh, and the Georgia game, but nobody survived that.

Video of All Varieties: (Collection)

High awareness/head always in the right spot:

Hard initial punch and plant stops movement:

Coach is one of those guys who goes to clinics and shows off a GT counter because his T can pull around on a counter:

Regularly seals out (very good) tackles:

Not hopeless in stretch zone:

Summary and Projection: MockDraftable has a useful measurables radar graph that paints a pretty clear picture of Stueber's extremely up and down pre-draft season:

• Tape Measurement Day: "Holy cow!"
• Movement Measurement Day: "Cow!"

Graded as a tackle, Stueber's feet make him a less than desired for any team trying to run a lot of zone. As a guard however, his true 6'7" stature becomes a liability. As the right tackle of a power running team, Stueber's size and strength make him a devastatingly effective pivot. He's intelligent and has good hands to survive at tackle against any but the most extreme pass-rushers. Even Penn State's Luketa didn't get around Stueber, while the more agile Ryan Hayes was getting tortured by Ebiketie on the other side. He finally met the extreme versus Georgia, and everyone saw it.

That makes him a tough prospect for an NFL team to fall in love with, but an attractive one as the draft goes on, since the floor here is a serviceable pro at multiple positions.