ESPN's Ed Cunningham Apologizes To Michigan For Speculating That Injured Player Was Suspended

Last weekend, ESPN announcer Ed Cunningham made an off-the-cuff remark about why Michigan’s All-America cornerback Jourdan Lewis didn’t play against Hawaii. While discussing the powerful Michigan defense, Cunningham noted that Lewis wasn’t suited up, then conjectured that it could be because of disciplinary reasons. Here’s the transcript, via Awful Announcing:

“We have not seen Jourdan Lewis defensively in the first half. As I was going through my depth chart I realized we haven’t called his name because he hasn’t been on the field yet…there’s Jourdan Lewis, he is dressed, wonder if there might be a disciplinary issue in this first half.”

Jim Harbaugh made a point of calling Cunningham out on Monday, and noted that Lewis is recovering from an injury still. “Ed Cunningham got way out over his skis,” Harbaugh said.

According to the , Cunningham called Michigan assistant AD on Tuesday and apologized for the speculation:

ESPN analyst Ed Cunningham phoned a Michigan official on Tuesday to acknowledge he mistakenly speculated during the game broadcast last Saturday that All-American cornerback Jourdan Lewis possibly was benched for disciplinary reasons.

Cunningham contacted Michigan associate athletic director Dave Ablauf.