Josaiah Stewart on transferring to Michigan: 'Everything I kinda thought of panned out'

Michigan senior EDGE Josaiah Stewart is a captain, national champion, Big Ten champ and the FBS’ active leader in sacks (28).

The 6-foot-1, 245-pounder was a freshman All-American at Coastal Carolina in 2021, and a two-time All-Sun Belt honoree, before transferring to U-M ahead of the 2023 campaign. He’ll add more accolades once this season is over, because he’s been ridiculously productive, with 27 tackles, 11 stops for loss, 6.5 sacks, 23 pressures and a 93.6 PFF pass-rush rating that leads the nation’s edge rushers.

Stewart, who was elevated to captain status midseason, isn’t happy with Michigan having lost three games thus far, but his experience since joining the program has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Yeah, everything I kinda thought of panned out,” Stewart said. “Won a national championship, I’m in a full-time role now and I’m doing well. I feel like my teammates, the defense are doing well. So I’d say so.”

The Bronx, N.Y., native just made a game-changing play last week, strip sacking MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles just before halftime, with junior defensive tackle Kenneth Grant‘s recovery setting up a field goal that gave the Wolverines the lead. They never trailed after that point in a 24-17 victory. Stewart celebrated accordingly, parading the Paul Bunyan Trophy around the field.

“It kinda went by fast,” Stewart said of the play on which he chased down Chiles from his blind side and jarred the ball loose. “Strip sack happened, and then next thing you know there are three points on the board. I was kinda too busy celebrating with my teammates. The next thing I know, we’re walking in the locker room up 9-7. It was huge. Plays like that change games.

“Honestly, I was kinda chasing him too long. I felt like one more second and he was going to get rid of it. So I kinda just dove and sold out, and he had both hands on the ball, so I kinda knew where to aim with my hands. Just glad the ball came out.”

Stewart made some massive plays for Michigan last season, including on the final fourth-down stop in overtime of the Rose Bowl, but he’s now a starter, contributing at a higher level play-to-play.

“Working well with my teammates and getting everybody along, on the same page and firing guys up,” Stewart said of where he’s grown the most. “I feel like that’s the main part. I’m in more of a leader role this year, and having those guys galvanized is huge.

“Coming in last year, coming into the Power Five for the first time, kinda wanted to be too perfect. Because you can mess up — [and people would say] ‘hey, he can’t play at this level.’ Now this season, I’m just playing a lot more free, a lot more carefree, playing loose and having fun.”

He’s starting to pop up as a projected first-round NFL Draft pick, too, but he’s not all that focused on it at this point.

“I don’t really pay too much mind to that,” the Michigan EDGE said. “I never thought of getting drafted when I started playing football, so I’m not trying to change my mindset in that aspect. But I’m just gonna go out there and have the best game of my life every week.”

Stewart is at 6.5 sacks, tied for second in the Big Ten, but he doesn’t have any final goal on how many he wants to have by the end of the season.

“Nah, not specifically,” he noted. “I honestly didn’t think a number would boost me somewhere, some specific number. Nowadays, with media, analytics, they look at different things for your stock, so I honestly don’t think stats really matter.”

Michigan junior EDGE Derrick Moore, Stewart’s compadre, is also having a productive season. He actually has 24 pressures, one more than Stewart, even if his rushes have amounted in “only” 2 sacks.

“I’m so proud of him,” Stewart said. “His play doesn’t show up in the stat sheet every night, but he’s dominant out there. Honestly, he should have half the sacks I do right now.

“He’s been balling for our defense, and I was right there with him in the offseason working. I’ve seen it pay off, and it’s showing.

“We play off of each other so well. He might do a rush that just happens to match my rush, like on that sack play. And it just happens naturally, and it’s huge.”

With Stewart out of eligibility for next season, at least one EDGE spot will have a first-time starter at Michigan. Senior TJ Guy and sophomore Cameron Brandt have been the backups, and they’ve produced when called upon. Brandt scored the first sack of his career last week against MSU, while Guy has 2.5 on the year.

“Him, TJ, Derrick, we were all in the offseason together working,” Stewart said after being asked about Brandt. “He’s a young guy who’s been watching us this year, the guys last year and he’s been doing a hell of a job.

“We all told him the dam’s gonna break soon — he’s been rushing his butt off all year — and it so happened.”