Former All-State lineman transferring to UConn from Michigan
Jack Stewart, who was part of a New Canaan senior football class which had three Division I signees, will be returning to his home state to play for UConn in the fall.
The a 6-foot-4, 314pound defensive lineman will be transferring to the Huskies from Michigan, where he had spent the last three years.
He announced the transfer in a tweet on Monday afternoon, saying “I’m coming home.”
Stewart is joining a UConn program which has had a large influx of players from within the state under new head coach Jim Mora.
“It’s going to be really great,” said Lou Marinelli, Stewart’s former high school coach. “He’s going to a program that certainly is on the way up, and Coach Mora has things going in the right direction.”
The 21-year old Stewart, a three-star recruit coming out of New Canaan High, has not seen game action in his three years at Michigan.
A member of the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register All-State team as a senior, he was rated among the top 80 offensive tackles and the top 6 recruits in Connecticut by recruiting services. He was rated 47th and 4th according to ESPN, respectively.
A 2019 graduate of New Canaan High School, Stewart was part of a Rams’ class which had three Div. I committs. He signed with Michigan alongside teammates Jack Conley of Boston College, and Garrett Braden of Rice.
Drew Pyne, the Rams’ junior quarterback at the time, signed with Notre Dame a year later.
John Marinelli, UConn’s tight ends coach, said he’s very familiar with the Stewart family and Jack. Marinelli is a former New Canaan player and assistant coach, and was Greenwich’s head coach when the Cardinals defeated the Rams in the Class LL final during Stewart’s senior season.
“Seeing his past out of high school and his whole process, it’s kind of come full circle as he comes home,” John Marinelli said. “Jack is here at the beginning of what Jim Mora is trying to build at UConn.
“His ability to go experience (Michigan) and then come back where it all started for him is a very special moment for him and his family.”
Marinelli said that Stewart is “phenomenal with what he brings to the table.”
“I can remember going against him — he was fierce, he was mean — he was everything in an oldschool football player,” Marinelli said.
Stewart is part of a new group of Connecticut players who will join the Huskies for the fall, including Bristol Central WR Victor Rosa, Norwalk S/RB Cam Edwards, and Windsor OL Prince Samuels.
Stewart is also the first New Canaan player to join the UConn football program since Rob Cooper in the late 1970s, before Lou Marinelli was hired as the Rams’ head coach.
“Seeing as I’m going to be going to a lot of UConn games, or at least as many as I can,” Lou Marinelli said, “it’s going to be great to see one of my players actually playing at UConn.”