That’s when Nick turned to 
football, which doubled as both a 
coping mechanism and a tribute. It 
was always Cassandra’s dream for 
Nick to make it big in football, even 
while, at the time, his focus largely 
centered around basketball. Nick 
dove into football head-on.
There 
were 
no 
guarantees, 
but his large frame and athletic 
gift made the transition a smooth 
one. He was a late-bloomer in 
recruiting, but as is often the case, 
word spread quickly once schools 
took notice. Alabama, Auburn 
and Florida all took interest. All 
Eubanks really wanted, though, 
was a sense of belonging and trust. 
At Michigan, he found both, and he 
knew it right away. To the public, 
the commitment mere days before 
National Signing Day came as a 
shock.
As he was leaving Ann Arbor, 
Nick called Clayton to break the 
news that he was committing.
“That was kinda quick,” Clayton 
said. 
“Yeah, man,” Nick replied. “It felt 
right at home.”
Morsels of Cassandra’s ethos 
constantly linger with Nick, both 
physical and metaphysical. Often 
they emerge in times of distress — a 
need to summon strength when his 
own is put to the test. Sometimes 
he’ll talk to her when he’s all alone, 
repeating things she used to say to 
him or do for him. Anything to push 
forward.
After he broke his forearm 
against Purdue early in the 2017 
season, ending a potential breakout 
season in September, Eubanks’ 
frustration quickly morphed into 
dread. He’d caught two passes, 
including a 41-yard catch down the 
seam, in the season-opener against 
Florida. That existent dread soon 
turned to self-reflection, then angst.
He started asking himself if 
he still wanted to play. Recalling 
that time, perhaps the most trying 
in his career, Eubanks conveys 
sincerity in his desire to quit. He 
spoke to friends and family about 
the possibility. He spoke with Tarik 
Black and Jake Butt, both of whom 
are close confidants and understand 
his background, about his concerns. 
“I 
kinda 
thought, 
‘This 
is 

something I don’t want to do 
anymore,’ ” Eubanks recalled. “I 
kind of had a thought of myself, like, 
‘This is not you talking. This is not 
the Nick you were before she left.’ I 
kinda got myself back with that.
“ ‘You don’t quit,’ that’s something 
she told me. You don’t just sit down. 
There’s obstacles in life that’s gonna 
beat you down to the point you 
don’t want to do it anymore or you 
think you can’t do it anymore. I just 
always had that message saying, 
‘You got this, man.’ ”
As Eubanks speaks, his voice 
remains 
steadfast, 
cracking 
occasionally to collect his emotions. 
This is not a tale he tells liberally. 
He makes clear that he does not 
intend to engender sympathy or 
pity. He has never told his coaches, 
Jim Harbaugh included, about his 
mother and he doesn’t know what 
they do or don’t know.
He and Harbaugh often sit 
together upstairs in Schembechler 
Hall, exchanging small talk over 
dinner. Harbaugh will ask about 
school or life. Sometimes he’ll 
tell Eubanks stories of previous 
tight ends he’s coached. Eubanks 
says it’s helped him grow as a 
player. Though Nick has never told 
Harbaugh directly, Clayton tipped 
him off to the family’s background 
early on — those conversations, in 
that context, doubling as a check-in.
Harbaugh often swaps texts 
with Clayton, spanning from check-
ins on his son to well-wishes for 
the team. The two have struck up 
an unusual kinship, “to the point 
where 
they’re 
becoming 
best 
friends,” Nick said.
The loss of Cassandra struck 
Clayton in a uniquely crushing way, 
and it’s evident in the way he speaks. 
He often refers to his children as 
“good kids” and that he did “the 
best that I could.” Cassandra, by all 
accounts, was the family’s unifier. 
When she passed, the book lost its 
spine.
“Nick, he’s a strong kid, man,” 
Clayton said. “They loved their 
mom. And she loved them. She 
loved them to death; they knew it. 
And they wanted to finish what 
they started, and I admire that. That 
kid came a long way. And I did the 
best that I could with him. I had to 
be Mom and Dad. We came through 
it together, really.”

But then, just as you seem to 
understand Clayton Eubanks, a 
flashbulb memory comes firing 
from the recesses of his past. He 
recounts, in excruciating detail, 
getting called into the office in 10th 
grade; being told his mother had 
passed away; running home, not 
waiting for a ride; walking up to the 
house, and being told cancer had 
taken her. 
Suddenly, the scale of his grief 
takes on new meaning. Suddenly, 
the ripple effects shower down — 
and the tragedies hold new weight.
It was all for nothing… like I said, 
it was all for nothing.
The totality of those losses, and 
the succession of the two, cannot 
possibly be quantified in Clayton’s 
or Nick’s lives. How does a father 
possibly handle raising his kids 
under the exact same pain he 
experienced? How can he look Nick 
in the eyes, and sincerely tell him it 
was going to be alright? 
That is, of course, not something 
Nick — at age 14 or 22 — can 
properly contextualize. Neither he, 
nor Clayton, can properly put into 
words the impact those experiences 
had on his upbringing, nor the rest 
of his siblings.
“It kinda sent me spiraling, 
really,” Clayton said. “I got out of 
control for a minute. Once I got past 
that, I met his mom. And eventually, 
we started having kids. Kids are 
nice.”
Eubanks chooses not to dwell on 
those complexities. He’s focused, 
for the time being, on making the 
most of his last season at Michigan, 
continually improving. To start the 
year, he’s shown hints of being an 
integral part of the new offense. 
Flashing a smile, he says he’s even 
hoping to get his dad up for a game 
from Florida, circling the Ohio State 
game as a distinct possibility.
“I carry her spirit with me,” he 
said, “just having a good spirit. Just 
having her in my ear, in my corner, 
being that person that’s here with 
me, even though she’s not.”
Then he flashes the inside of his 
left forearm, pointing to a tattoo 
bearing her name. He often looks 
down when he’s going through 
something. Maybe it’s after a rough 
practice. Perhaps another injury 
arises. The understanding is clear.
“She’s here with me.”

EUBANKS
From Page 1B

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Nick Eubanks looks at the tattoo on his left forearm bearing his mother, Cassandra’s, name, when going through adversity.

Wolverines add depth with grad transfers Jacob Hayhurst, Shane Switzer

When Josh Norris decided 
to leave for the NHL, Michigan 
coach Mel Pearson knew he was 
facing an uphill battle to find a 
replacement.
The 
recruiting 
cycle 
in 
hockey runs far in advance of 
when players actually show up 
on campus. Typically, players 
commit while still in high school, 
then go play at least two years of 
junior hockey before enrolling. 
When a player like Norris, who 
was drafted in the first round of 
the 2017 NHL Draft, makes his 
decision to leave in May, finding 
a replacement is challenging.
“A lot of time your recruiting 
is so far ahead in college hockey 
now, that there’s not going to 
be a player out there if Norris 
finally tells you he’s leaving, 
bang, you can just find a guy,” 
Pearson said Wednesday. “It’s 
usually very picked over by that 
point. Then you start looking 
like, ‘Well, OK, maybe there’s 
a (graduate) transfer who has 
decided later on (to leave).’ ”
As soon as Pearson knew 
Norris 
was 
leaning 
toward 
leaving Michigan, he and his 
coaching staff started checking 
the 
transfer 
portal on a daily 
basis. 
Graduate 
transfers 
have 
only 
recently 
become 
prominent 
in 
college 
hockey, 
and 
Pearson 
credits the portal 
with 
making 
transferring more 
accessible on both 
sides.
“This 
year, 
(the 
transfer 
portal) 
really 
ramped 
up,” 
Pearson said. “This past winter 
and spring it really took off. ... 
That really became a big deal. 
Obviously, we see a lot of grad 
transfers 
in 
college 
hockey 
now, more than we did the year 
before. There were a few the 
first year, and then this year it 
just seems like it’s taken off.”
In April, when Pearson knew 
Norris might be leaving, the 

transfer portal was the first 
place he checked to find a new 
addition. And 600 miles away, 
a prominent player had just 
entered his name in the portal 
— Jacob Hayhurst, Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute’s leading 
scorer from the 2018-19 season.
After three years at RPI, 
Hayhurst 
decided 
his 
best 
chance at playing for a national 
title laid elsewhere. Michigan 
was one of the first teams to 
reach out to Hayhurst, and his 
decision to join the Wolverines 
came shortly after.
“At RPI things weren’t going 
as planned, and we continuously 
didn’t put a team on the ice that 
had the best opportunity to 
win,” Hayhurst said. “I think 
here at Michigan, each and 
every year, they create a team 
that has an opportunity to win 
a national championship, and I 
want to be a part of one, so that’s 
why I’m here.
“When 
they 
called, 
I 
answered right away and could 
not have been happier.”
Pearson often says that they 
can’t replace Norris with just 
one player. But when looking for 
a player to fill the gap, Hayhurst 
was at the top of Pearson’s list 
because 
of 
his 
combination 
of 
offensive 
output, 
speed 
and 
game 
experience.
“When you’re 
unsure if you’re 
gonna 
lose 
a 
kid 
like 
Josh 
Norris, 
right 
away you’re just 
trying to see if 
there’s someone 
there that can 
come in,” Pearson said. “It’s less 
of a hit than maybe bringing in a 
young freshman who’s got a lot 
to learn still. You bring in a guy 
like Hayhurst, a senior, or a guy 
who’s played three years and 
has one year left and can come 
into your program, it’s more 
seamless. He can just come in 
and sort of hit it running.”
In addition to losing Norris 
up front, Michigan lost three 
experienced blueliners in Quinn 
Hughes, Joseph Cecconi and 

Nick Boka. Pearson once again 
turned to the transfer portal 
in hopes of filling the void. 
There he found former Boston 
University defenseman Shane 
Switzer. After four years at BU, 
Switzer was looking for a school 
with more ice time available 
than he had with the Terriers.
“His name came up to us 
through the former coach there, 
David Quinn,” Pearson said. 
“We know David really well and 
he’s with the New York Rangers 
now. He had Switzer (at BU) so 
we had some conversations. He 
really liked Shane and it just — 
new coaches went into BU and it 
just wasn’t a good fit for Shane 
at that point. Brought in some 
really high-profile players, and 
he just sort of got squeezed out 
there. He’s a Michigan kid, was 
going to graduate early, a year 
early, so it’s just a good fit.”
Both Switzer and Hayhurst 
have 
seemingly 
settled 
in 
seamlessly with the Wolverines. 
After the team’s first practice, 
Pearson praised both for their 
on-ice abilities. And off the ice, 

the two new additions were 
quick to voice appreciation for 
their new teammates’ efforts in 
helping them get settled.
“It’s really easy, honestly,” 
Switzer said. “It’s a tight-
knit group in there, but they 
welcomed me with open arms 
and 
my 
roommates 
have 
been really helpful with the 
transition.”
Added 
Hayhurst: 
“It’s 
been great. The guys have 
been 
really 
helpful, 
caring, 
respectful and kind of showing 
me the ropes and everything, 
because it’s obviously different 
here than RPI, being at such 
a 
bigger 
school. 
Especially 
my roommates, they’ve really 
helped 
me 
out 
in 
getting 
prepared for classes and set up 
in that aspect.”
Replacing 
Norris 
and 
a 
veteran core on the blueline 
isn’t easy, but with Hayhurst’s 
offensive 
track 
record 
and 
Switzer’s 
ability 
as 
a 
defenseman, the two graduate 
transfers have the potential to 
fill in just fine.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson recruited Jacob Hayhurst and Shane Switzer to the Wolverines as graduate transfers ahead of the upcoming season.

When they 
called, I 
answered right 
away.

2B — September 16, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

