The Best Michigan Player From: Arizona

Michigan signed its very first player from the state of Arizona in 1999, and a 20 years later, it's been a small but strong group from the Cacti State.

We continue to look at the best player to wear the winged helmet from 48 states and Canada (there is no one from Alaska and Hawaii worth profiling) by looking to the southwest and Arizona. 

We previously looked at Alabama and Arkansas.

The state of Arizona has sent a small but distinguished group of players to Ann Arbor, beginning with Norman Heuer in 1999. In five seasons with the Wolverines, Heuer started 31 games at defensive tackle, recording 8.5 sacks and 16 total tackles for loss. He also forced three fumbles and had three pass breakups. Heuer had three TFL and started all 13 games for Michigan's Big Ten championship team in 2003. 

The Peoria native was supposed to have a Cactus State teammate in 2002 with the signing of Quinton McCoy from Mesa, but the the defensive back never stuck with the Maize and Blue. 

Then, in 2009, Rich Rodriguez's staff went to Scottsdale to pull out a pair of Chaparral High four-stars: offensive tackle Taylor Lewan and Craig Roh. 

We recently featured Roh on our radio show, and you can hear, in his own words, how a couple of Arizonians ended up almost 2,000 miles away in Ann Arbor. 

Roh enjoyed a nice career at U-M, starting 51 games for the Wolverines from 2009-12, including all 12 as a true freshman, recording 10.5 sacks among 26.5 total tackles for loss. He continues to play professionally in the CFL. 

The best player to hail from Arizona, however, is Roh's classmate, Lewan. 

Enjoying a successful NFL career with the Tennessee Titans, Lewan started 48 games at left tackle for the Wolverines and was considered one of the best offensive linemen in college football his final two seasons, earning first-team All-American honors both years. He was also the Big Ten's Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year in both 2012-13. 

Lewan is one of just five conference lineman since 1984 to win the league's top honor for OL in back-to-back seasons (and no one has done it since he left U-M).