2016 Season Countdown: #1 Jourdan Lewis

Jourdan Lewis (image via SB Nation)

Name: Jourdan Lewis
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 186 lbs.
High school: Detroit (MI) Cass Tech
Position: Cornerback
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #26
Last year: I ranked Lewis #5 and said he would be a starting cornerback with 50 tackles, 3 interceptions, and 8 pass breakups (LINK). He started every game and ended with 52 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 interceptions (1 TD), 1 forced fumble, and 18 pass breakups; he also returned 15 kickoffs for 378 yards (25.2 yards/return).

Lewis was a bona fide star in 2015, perhaps the best player in the country at his position. And he might even be underrated, even though he was an All-American. Perhaps the biggest highlight was when he wrested what appeared to be a reception away from a Northwestern receiver, somehow stayed inbounds, and raced down the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown. Behind De’Veon Smith’s 60-yard touchdown against BYU and the final play against Michigan State, it was the biggest “WTF just happened?” moment of the year. Just a week earlier, he had made a one-handed snag of a crossing route to wow the crowd at Maryland. And the week after the Northwestern game, he went toe-to-toe with Michigan State’s Aaron Burbridge and ended the game with 7 tackles and a career-high 6 pass breakups in that one game. It was a three-game stretch of a ridiculously high level of play.

Hit the jump for more on Lewis.

In a low-key way, Lewis might be one of the most dynamic players in the country, and I’m guessing there are a lot of people in SEC or Pac-12 country that have never heard of him. He talked this off-season about wanting to play some offense, a la Jabrill Peppers, and I have no doubts that Lewis could be an elite wide receiver if that’s where he spent his time. For some evidence, you can look at Lewis’s 55-yard kickoff return against Penn State, in which he broke numerous tackles and turned on the jets to nearly score a TD. Michigan fans should support cloning just to replicate Lewis and Peppers. The Wolverines have some good players in the pipeline, but I’m not sure that any will approach what those two guys can do on an individual level.

Michigan has some quality defensive backs, including fellow corners Channing Stribling and Jeremy Clark. They even brought in a couple blue-chip freshmen in David Long and Lavert Hill. There are other good defenders on the team, and Michigan would still have a high-quality defense if Lewis were to get hurt. But I pick Lewis as the #1 player largely for the following reason: in a pass-heavy college football world, a shutdown corner is invaluable as the competition heats up. Many prognosticators have the Wolverines in the hunt for the playoff, where they would end up playing the elite teams of college football. While Michigan’s regular season won’t offer up a ton of elite receivers, the path to a national championship will, where Michigan could face off against the likes of Clemson, Alabama, LSU, USC, Ohio State, Notre Dame, etc. (For the record, I’m not predicting who will make the playoff; I’m just throwing out perennially powerful teams.) I like Stribling, Clark, and maybe even Long as #2 corners this year, but none of those guys matches up well with elite receivers. If someone other than Lewis had been shadowing Burbridge last season, I doubt it would have taken a last-second bit of luck for the Spartans to win. Add in some value as a returner and potentially some time on offense, and I think the Wolverines would really miss the best cover corner they’ve had since at least Leon Hall.

Prediction: Starting cornerback; First Team All-American; 60 tackles, 3 interceptions

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