Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan earned first team 2013 Preseason All-American honors from PhilSteele.com Wednesday.
Lewan was the only Big Ten player to appear on the first team list. However, 15 Big Ten players, including five from Ohio State, appeared on Steele’s first, second, third and fourth teams, respectively.
The 6-foot-8, 309-pound senior elected to stay at Michigan and forgo the NFL draft, despite being heralded as a first-round draft selection by several draft prognosticators and scouting services.
ESPN Insider Mel Kiper, Jr. believed Lewan would have been the third-best tackle in the 2013 NFL Draft.
“I think he had a chance to be one of the first three tackles taken in the 2013 draft, which obviously puts him in a pretty good class,” Kiper wrote on May 17.
Should Lewan excel in 2014, he will sit atop Kiper’s Big Board once again.
As a junior in 2012, Lewan won First-team All-Big Ten and First-team All-American honors as well as the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year award.
Lewan (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was ranked a four-star recruit in 2009 from Chaparral High School.
Brandon Folsom can be contacted at bfolsom@mlive.com, and you can follow him on Twitter for additional information about college football, basketball, and recruiting.