Former Michigan football player says he was “finessed” into leaving the program

Benjamin St-Juste, a former Michigan football player from Jim Harbaugh’s 2017 and 2018 squads, was a one-year letter winner for the Wolverines before transferring to Minnesota for the remainder of his college career. Recently, the former Wolverine took to social media to explain how he believes Michigan “finessed” him into medically retiring from the program.

Former Michigan football player believes the program ‘finessed’ him into leaving

According to Benjamin St-Juste himself on his social media, the Michigan football program forced him to retire a few years back, leading to his transfer to Minnesota before being drafted.

“This is the infamous story of how I had to ‘medically retire’ from the University of Michigan but still made it to the NFL,” he said. “I’m desperate for a chance to just get better. The trainers at Michigan at the time, they come up with a paper, like these documents, they’re like, ‘Hey, if you sign this it’s going to give you way more options and time to go heal and rehab at any other place that you want.

“So I’m like, ‘Yo that’s a sweet deal because I’m not ready for the season, so let me do this.’ Obviously, my parents are not there. They’re back home in Canada. I don’t have any mentors or friends that know what this paper is. So I’m like, ‘Cool.’ Sign it.

“I’m like, ‘Hey, no problem. I’ll sit out.’ 2019 rolls around, I do all the testing, the assessment, all that stuff to make sure I’m ready for spring ball,” he continued. “I’m passing everything. I’m all good. I’m like, ‘Hey, when can I participate in spring ball?’ They’re like, ‘We gotta do a meeting with your parents first.’

“Basically they look at my dad and say, ‘Hey, we don’t really know what happened with St-Juste. We don’t know what’s the situation.’ So basically my dad snapped. He snapped crazy on them. The doctors they’re basically saying like, ‘Hey, we don’t feel comfortable with you playing here with your hamstring.’ They’re acting like I got cancer or some sh*t, or I tore my ACL like five times — bro, it’s a hamstring pull,” he said.

St-Juste went on to explain how he thinks that Michigan football did this in order to revoke his offer and give it to someone else. This decision prompted him to transfer to Minnesota and complete his college years with the Golden Gophers. Fortunately, this move turned out to be beneficial for him as it ultimately led to his entry into the NFL.

“The rest is history,” he concluded. “I went to Minnesota, two years, wound up getting drafted and everything. But this is where I got kind of like finessed, like forced to retire at Michigan.”

Below is the full clip, for those that would like to watch.

Incredibly interesting video of former #Gophers CB Benjamin St-Juste (@Benj_Juice) explaining how he was forced to medically retire from football at Michigan. pic.twitter.com/PCyym3CLs6

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) July 16, 2023

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