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Michigan offensive lineman Andrew Stueber during the Orange Bowl against Georgia on Dec. 31 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

National Team offensive lineman Andrew Stueber of Michigan during the Senior Bowl game on Feb. 5 in Mobile, Ala.

Michigan offensive lineman Andrew Stueber runs a drill during the NFL scouting combine on March 4 in Indianapolis.

Darien’s Andrew Stueber won’t be far from home when he begins his NFL career.

The 6-foot-7, 325-pound offensive lineman out of Michigan was selected by New England in the seventh round, 245th overall, in the 2022 NFL Draft on Saturday.

Stueber, who saw action at tackle and guard at Michigan, was an All-Big Ten first team selection and an All-American second team player as selected by the American Football Coaches Association in 2021.

Stueber had missed his junior season with the Wolverines in 2019 due to an ACL injury, but returned to play in six games as a senior in 2020. He used his graduate season in 2021 and started 14 games for a unit which received the Joe Moore Award as the top offensive line in the country.

He was projected as a seventh-round draft pick by many analysts and mock drafts.

As the draft went along and his name hadn’t been called, Stueber admitted it was “pretty stressful.”

“But you’ve just got to keep holding out hope, and I think it always ends up on the good side,” Stueber said. “I’m happy where I am. I’ve loved the Patriots organization and their team throughout my whole childhood growing up and everything, and I’m really excited to get there and start working.”

With the No. 245 selection (7th round), the New England @Patriots select @AndrewStueber99!https://t.co/oZy2okBomH : 2022 #NFLDraft – April 28-30 on NFLN/ESPN/ABC#GoBlue ➡ #ProBlue 〽 pic.twitter.com/GuLN92bt0i

Stueber also pointed to the Patriots-Giants rivalry, which includes two Super Bowls, as a “great memory,” while growing up in Darien.

“It was a pretty stark divide between either the Giants or the Patriots either way which side you leaned on, but definitely it was great,” he said. (The Patriots) were always such a dominant team and they played football with just such passion. It was such a great team to watch.”

Stueber’s former Blue Wave head coach Rob Trifone is on the other side of that “divide.”

“I wanted him to go to the Giants,” Trifone said with a laugh.

“It was an honor to have worked with a young man of his caliber, and I don’t mean that just athletically,” Trifone said. “From the day I met him, you could tell that he was a wonderful young man and a hard-worker.”

Trifone said he was recently texting with Stueber, reminiscing about a meeting the coach had with the player and his mom when Stueber was an incoming freshman. Trifone mentioned that Stueber had the potential to be a scholarship player.

Shortly after the meeting ended, Trifone received a text from Stueber: “Coach, I’m all in.”

While Stueber was at Michigan, Trifone said he kept in touch.

“I let him do his thing, but I also wanted to let him know that I love him and I’m always thinking about him,” Trifone said.

The Patriots have several of Stueber’s former Michigan teammates on the roster, including OL Mike Onwenu and LBs Cam McGrone and Josh Uche. Those connections, especially with Onwenu on the O-line, is helpful, Stueber said.

“You kind of start attached to the veteran guys and see how they work, hoew they operate, what their routine is like, and knowing a guy already going into it, I think it would help in the transition,” Stueber said. “I’ll be able to ask them questions and kind of bounce off ideas and see how he does business because obviously Mike has had such a great career so far. That’s a great person to kind of get behind and just see how he does his work, what his routine is like, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

According to The Michigan Insider, Stueber played 927 snaps in 2021 “and graded out exceptionally well as a pass-blocker.” He surrendered just one sack and 11 quarterback pressures.

Michigan has had five players drafted thus far, including first-rounders in DE Aidan Hutchinson, who was picked second overall by Detroit, and DB Daxton Hill, picked 31st by Cincinnati. LB David Ojabo was taken by Baltimore in the second round, and RB Hassan Haskins was a fourth-round pick of Tennessee.

A 2017 graduate of Darien High School, Stueber helped the Blue Wave football team win state championships in 2015 and 2016. He was an All-State player and one of the state’s top recruits, drawing offers from Boston College, Penn State and Tennessee, and interest from Yale and Harvard, before choosing Michigan.

After redshirting his freshman season at Michigan, Stueber made an impact as a sophomore in 2018, appearing in all 13 games on special teams, and 11 games, including two starts, at right tackle.

After the lost 2019 season, Stueber returned to action in 2020 and became a steady part of the offensive line.

david.stewart@hearstmediact.com; @dstewartsports

Weekly sports editor, Hearst Connecticut Media.