The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/544673
COMMITMENT PROFILE The traditional hotbeds for defen- sive backs are well established: Flor- ida, Texas, Southern California and Georgia. That meant Michigan had to be thinking outside the box when pur- suing a player from the opposite direc- tion, the north. Vieux Montreal (Que.) cornerback Benjamin St-Juste attended Michigan's "Exposure U" sum- mer camp in June to kick off a month- long tour of several college campuses, in hopes of earning the opportunity to play football in the States after his high school days. When he im- pressed enough to earn an offer from head coach Jim Harbaugh, the rest of the tour went on the shelf, and he committed to the Maize and Blue. "I looked for camps in the area of Michigan because my parents are planning to live in Michigan," St-Juste explained. "I found the Ex- posure U camp, and the camp was amazing. There was good food, a lot of athletes, great coaches and the fa- cilities are incredible. "Throughout the camp, many coaches took my information and talked with me, but we never talked about me getting a scholarship. It was only at day three that I went to the coach's office and he explained to me that the University of Michi- gan was offering me a scholarship. I was extremely excited about my first schol- arship ever. "After the Expo- sure camp, I was s u p p o s e d t o g o others' camps this summer, like Penn State and Syracuse, but I made my de- cision fast. I really liked my experience at Michigan with the coaches and the U-M area. I wanted to spend my four years in Michigan." A previously unknown prospect, St-Juste earned not only the atten- tion of the Michigan coaches, but the opportunity to play for them when he graduates high school for several reasons. Start with his long, athletic frame. Most players standing 6-3, 185 pounds don't have the ability to turn and run in coverage like St-Juste does. Former Michigan cornerback Todd Howard, now the defensive backs coach at Bolingbrook (Ill.) High School, was one of the guest coaches at the Exposure U camp. He was im- Canadian Benjamin St-Juste Will Head South For College St-Juste's stop at the Exposure U camp in Ann Arbor was supposed to be the first of many college vis- its over the summer. However, he cancelled the rest of the trips after accepting the Wolverines' offer. PHOTO BY TIM SULLIVAN