Michigan didn’t wait long to get Jeremiah Earby into the mix.
The Wolverines announced on Oct. 14 that the graduate cornerback, along with tight end Alex Bauman, would be joining the program after a temporary restraining order by the Washtenaw County Circuit Court in Michigan. Earby arrived in Ann Arbor after two seasons at Cal and the final two years of his college career at Boise State, where the Broncos had reportedly considered bringing him back after the fifth-year injunction was signed.
He’s only been around for a little more than two weeks, but Michigan is already seeing a player who looks comfortable in the room.
“He’s jelled so well, especially with the corner group,” safeties coach Tyler Stockton told media members on Wednesday. “He’s joking around. If you were out at practice, you go, ‘Wow, this guy’s been here for a long time,’ and he’s only been here for a couple weeks or whatever it is.”
Earby’s résumé explains why the Wolverines wanted him in the first place. At Cal, he appeared in 24 games and made 10 starts, including seven as a freshman when he earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.
He then moved to Boise State, where he started all 28 games over two seasons and picked up All-Mountain West Second-Team honors as a senior. That final year included 60 tackles, four interceptions and 13 passes defended, along with two Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week awards.
Stockton knows that body of work firsthand. Earby spent his last two seasons at Boise State playing under him when Stockton served as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach for the Broncos.
“He’s a phenomenal, phenomenal kid, and that’s probably the most important part of all this, that he is going to fit our culture,” Stockton said. “From a football standpoint, he’s played a lot of football, like a lot of the guys in the room.
So you can just tell when he goes out there and practices, this kid’s played a lot of football. He’s picking up the defense very quickly because he’s played so much football and he knows the situation he’s in.
“The young guys know they got to step up their game. He’s here to challenge all those guys as well.”
So far, Earby hasn’t played a snap in the two games he’s been with the team. The adjustment has to happen fast if he wants a real chance to get on the field, but Stockton pointed to a straightforward path for him to contribute sooner rather than later.
Special teams is the obvious entry point.
“The first thing you can do to help the team out is play on special teams,” Stockton said. “So hopefully, find a role for him on special teams to help those guys out. And obviously, the faster he picks up the defense, and the faster he performs in practice, we’ll give him an opportunity to play on defense.”
Stockton said the impression Earby has made goes beyond the tape. The cornerback has been thrown into a complicated situation, learning a defense on the fly without having seen game action yet, but the approach hasn’t changed.
“He wants to help the team win,” Stockton said. “That’s why he came here, because he loves football and wants to continue to play football - and this is the opportunity for him to do that. He’s going to do whatever it takes to help us win.”
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