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It was a devastating blow last offseason, when Michigan’s starting right tackle for the final handful of games in the 2018 season went down with an ACL tear.
While it wasn’t a total positional loss, as Andrew Stueber was in a competition with redshirt freshman Jalen Mayfield, Stueber’s absence meant breaking in a player with virtually no experience. It ended up working out just as well, which, could bode well in the future with Mayfield having departed for the NFL this offseason.
But what happened to Stueber that caused him to lose his third season of college football? He explained to Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast.
“It was during team periods, and I was actually playing left tackle at the time,” Stueber said. “Left tackle Jon Runyan was out for that practice for a small tweak he had. I was playing left tackle at that time, just a pathway that went wrong, someone went down and fell on me. It was kind of almost – I went down, I sat down for a second – I had never been in that position before – I got up, the trainers came over, helped me off. I went to our side right next to the field – the training area, where the trainers were going to check me out and everything. I was sitting there in shock. Not really sure what was gonna happen — the not knowing aspect of it.
“I got pulled into the back room of the training room. The doc came in, did a test on my knee and said, ‘I’m concerned about your ACL and I want to get an MRI on you as soon as possible.’ That’s when it sunk in of the possibility of my season being taken away. It was definitely a pretty hard day for me, but I have a great support system and my family – I thank them to this day for that.”
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Even so, Stueber remained engaged.
Just because he was out didn’t mean he wasn’t there to help others along where he could, trying to impart his experience to others who didn’t have that luxury.
“I sat in every meeting – I was still there, helping out as much as I could,” Stueber said. “The biggest thing I tried to focus on was helping the younger guys. Helping the people who had just come in who were struggling with the playbook, struggling with the technique. I understood the technique, I understood what needed to be done from a tackle and guard perspective. So I think my biggest thing was just helping the younger guys when they would just go in for opportunity practices or when it was (their) turn to go, I would always be there watching them, kind of helping coach them up, along with coaches and analysts. Because they only have so many eyes to watch each person, so I’d try to help out when they weren’t looking or were focused on the ones or something. So that’s something I tried to focus on.”
And, as we’ve seen before, taking mental reps as such played a big part on Stueber’s development.
Now, he has a much better grasp of the offense, and much of that is due to understanding the defensive side of the ball. So when he does return, Stueber should be that much better.
“I’d definitely say that my understanding of the game of football improved,” Stueber said. “Seeing defenses, reading defenses and understanding them is a lot greater. I live with Dylan, the quarterback. So I’d always ask him about the defenses we’re playing each week, what he’s looking for. The mental game is a huge part of the game. So that was definitely something I took the time to improve in this time off. I couldn’t be there physically, but mentally I was able to look around on the field, see what they were doing. And also help my teammates when they were struggling or were in a position where they didn’t know what was happening.”
That said, how ready is he to take the field once again?
Stueber was cleared some time back now and was itching to put the pads on again. However, just days before he got that opportunity, the Big Ten slowed teams’ practices in fall training camp, with the impending decision to pull the plug on fall forthcoming. He’s been practicing, but now he’s just waiting for that final step before he feels fully back to form.
“It feels really good,” Stueber said. “It hasn’t swelled up on me yet, knock on wood. I still go in three times a week to get some treatment on it, continue to rehab, building it up right. It’s really big to keep strengthening your quads – your calves, too. So I’ve been doing that a bunch, going in there.
“It’s been feeling real good. I get the occasional morning sickness, which comes with it the trainer said. You just kind of warm it up – I was hoping to get into pads. That was the final thing for me. I was fully cleared, I was ready to go, I was practicing with no hiccups. Pads was the final step, that was going to be the return to normal for me. But, unfortunately, we weren’t able to reach that. Just gotta wait for it, but it will come eventually.”