He was a member of the 1964 Michigan Wolverines football team that won the Big Ten Conference championship, played in the 1965 Rose Bowl, and was ranked #4 in the final AP Poll.

As a senior, he was selected as a consensus All-American,[3] and he was also named the Most Valuable Player on the 1965 Michigan Wolverines football team.

In December 1965, Time magazine described Yearby as "a vicious tackier, always on target, always gets his man — and not 5 yds.

The Jets' web site notes that Yearby "missed valuable training camp practice because of All-Star game and injury suffered in pre-season game," and that coaches at Michigan said he was "extremely quick" and could have been a starter on the Michigan basketball team.

In 1967, Yearby's knee was still not right, and he was farmed out to the Bridgeport Knights of the Atlantic Coast Conference, who were the Jets' minor league affiliate.