Best Michigan Players Of The Harbaugh Era: No. 4 — Jourdan Lewis
This week, TheWolverine is counting down the five best Michigan football players so far of the Jim Harbaugh era in Ann Arbor, as decided upon by members of our staff.
Tight end Jake Butt (2013-16) kicked things off yesterday when he grabbed the No. 5 spot on our list, with cornerback Jourdan Lewis (2013-16) sliding in next at No. 4.
Lewis came to Michigan in 2013 as a solid four-star prospect and the No. 131 overall player nationally out of Cass Tech High School in Detroit, having committed to U-M while Brady Hoke was still the head coach.
The Detroit native played in eight games as a freshman on the 2013 Wolverine squad that limped to a 7-6 campaign, making 17 tackles and recording two pass breakups along the way.
Lewis then stepped into a bigger role as a sophomore in 2014 by appearing in all 12 games, starting seven of them. He registered 39 tackles, two interceptions and eight pass breakups, with his two picks occurring in the 34-10 win over Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 13 and the 18-13 victory over Penn State on Oct. 11.
Though his statistics were commendable, Lewis didn't necessarily get the attention he deserved that year due to Michigan's miserable 5-7 season and the constant attention paid to Hoke's inevitable firing.
The 2015 campaign was Lewis' true breakthrough, with the then-junior establishing himself as one of the game's best cornerbacks under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin.
He started all 13 games for the 10-3 Wolverines, tallying 52 stops, 3.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and a school-record 22 pass break-ups. The cornerback had a knack for making big plays in big moments, and that was never more evident than when he grabbed an interception and ran it back 37 yards for a touchdown in Michigan's 38-0 beatdown of No. 13 Northwestern on Oct. 10.
He was named a second-team AP All-American and a consensus first-team All-Big Ten member at year's end, and made Michigan fans everywhere ecstatic when he announced he'd be returning for his senior year.
Lewis did not disappoint as a senior in 2016. He played in 10 games (missed the first three with injury) and posted 25 tackles, 3.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage, two picks and 13 pass breakups, helping anchor both the No. 1 pass defense and the No. 1 overall defense in the country.
Again, his knack for making big plays was best on display in U-M's 14-7 win over No. 8 Wisconsin on Oct. 1, when the cornerback made a leaping one-handed interception with just 2:15 remaining to seal the victory over the Badgers.
The Detroit native once again reeled in the hardware at season's end, being named a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award (given annually to the game's best defensive back), the Big Ten's Defensive Back of the Year, a consensus All-Big Ten first-teamer for the second straight season, and an AP first-team All-American.
When his collegiate tenure was all said and done, Lewis made 30 starts in 48 appearances, tallied 133 tackles, 8.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage, six interceptions and a school-record 45 pass breakups.
He was then chosen by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, which is where he still resides today. Lewis was one of the primary players who helped re-establish a winning culture at Michigan under Harbaugh, with the team going 20-6 during his final two years in Ann Arbor.
Though he never possessed elite height (5-11, 186), the cornerback always seemed to be in the right place at the right time and was seldom taken advantage of by opposing receivers.
He also helped spearhead what has turned into a dominant cornerback tradition under Harbaugh, thanks in large part to the tutelage of position coach Mike Zordich.
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