Michigan Football: The Wolverine's Top-25 Since '97 - No. 18
The Wolverine continues its series of the top 25 Michigan players since 1997 with No. 18, Jourdan Lewis.
Lewis finished his career at Michigan as one of the top defensive backs in the program's history and was a big part of the program's turnaround under coach Jim Harbaugh.
A native of Detroit, Lewis was a four-star cornerback recruit out of Detroit Cass Tech, and was the No. 3 prospect from the state of Michigan in the 2013 recruiting class according to Rivals.com. As a senior in high school, Lewis had 751 receiving yards and six touchdowns as well as three touchdowns on special teams. He also tallied eight interceptions as a junior at Cass, and won back to back state championships his final two years there. Lewis was selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American game following his senior season.
Lewis hit the ground running at Michigan, appearing in eight games as a freshman and earning a varsity letter. Lewis' role as a Wolverine only grew from there as his career progressed. As a sophomore, Lewis played in 12 games, starting seven, and notching his first two career interceptions.
The 2015 season is when Lewis began to establish himself as a top player in the country. On the way to a 10-3 season, Michigan put together the No. 4 defense in the nation. A large part of that defensive dominance was due to Lewis, who set a single season Wolverine record for pass breakups with 22, topping the previous record of 18 shared by Marlin Jackson and Leon Hall.
In his senior season, Michigan once again went 10-3, and Lewis once again wrote his name in the record books. His 13 pass breakups in the 2016 season pushed him to 45 in his career, passing Hall's 43 for the school's career mark in that statistical category. Lewis also made what was perhaps the play of the year, a leaping one handed interception behind his head against Wisconsin that helped to close out that game. After the season, Lewis garnered consensus first team All-American honors and was named the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year for the Big Ten. He was also a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist.
Lewis finished his career with 133 tackles and six interceptions and was first team All-Big Ten his final two years as a Wolverine. He entered the 2017 NFL draft and was taken in the third round, No. 92 overall, by the Dallas Cowboys.
The full list:
No. 18: Jourdan Lewis
No. 19: David Harris
No. 20: Ernest Shazor
No. 21: John Navarre
No. 22: Jake Butt
No. 23: David Molk
No. 24: Taco Charlton
No. 25: Jeremy Gallon