SAD NEWS: Michigan wolverine player says he is retiring, details mental health struggles……
Former Wolverine Claims Michigan Forced Him To Medically Retire
The former four-star recruit claims the University of Michigan forced him to medically retire following the 2018 season.
Former Michigan defensive back Benjamin St. Juste recently took to social media to discuss his departure from the Wolverines prior to the 2019 season.
St. Juste was a former four-star prospect and part of Michigan’s 2017 recruiting class. During his freshman year in Ann Arbor, he suffered a Grade 2 hamstring injury that ended his season – and ultimately his career as a Wolverine. As he tried to rehab his injury, St. Juste claims he ended up pulling his hamstrings six times as a result of overcompensating for his original injury.
After working for months with Michigan’s medical staff and not making any progress, St. Juste said that Michigan asked him to sign a form that would allow him to explore additional options for his recovery – including working with other specialists.
“I’m desperate for a chance to just get better. The trainers at Michigan at the time, they come up with a paper, 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,” St-Juste explained.
“So I’m like, ‘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.”
After signing the document, St. Juste describes a scenario in which he believes he was forced to medically retire from the University of Michigan.
You can watch the entire video below:
“What I’ve figured out now that I’m older, why I was forced to medically retire, is because when I signed that paper, they was never planning on getting me back on the team,” St-Juste said. “Basically, when I signed that paper they took my scholarship, they gave it to somebody else and they made me think, ‘Hey, go through the process, pass all the tests and then we’ll get you back on the team.’ They already moved on. My locker was already clean. I couldn’t even access the facility. I had to sit in the stands to watch the games, my teammates, my friends play.”
St. Juste ended up transferring to Minnesota and played two seasons with the Golden Gophers 2019-2020) before being drafted by the Washington Commanders in the 2021 NFL Draft.
“The rest is history. 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.
“That’s the infamous story. Just believe in your dreams, have a good support system…and never forget that the NCAA, the NFL, all that stuff is a business first. Players don’t come first. It’s a business first, so look out for yourself,” he said.
