The next great Michigan football linebacker is Jaishawn Barham.
If you don’t know him, it’s likely because he was shining for Maryland last season as a sophomore before transferring to U-M in February.
Finishing with All-Big Ten honorable mention honors as an underclassman in a league known for its defense was impressive, but his move to Ann Arbor didn’t get the attention it will get once the games are played.
He was already named to the Butkus Award Watch List, which honors the nation’s best linebacker.
Now, insert Barham into a Wink Martindale-led defense, littered with NFL talent in a scheme that seemingly nobody in the Big Ten can figure out, and his ceiling is the roof.
Mixing him into this star-studded unit has Michigan coaches & analysts around the country buying the hype on a breakout season for Barham.
Why Michigan thinks Barham is in for a big year
“He’s the most physically gifted linebacker I’ve seen at Michigan – at least since Devin Bush.”
That’s what offensive line coach Grant Newsome said about Barham while speaking to the media on Wednesday afternoon.
At 6-foot-3, 248 pounds, the Maryland native has a frame nearly identical to his predecessor Junior Colson.
Last season, Barham had nearly 20 fewer tackles but registered two sacks and an interception – two categories Colson didn’t impact.
One thing more important than any statistic in football is the answer to this question: How hard can you hit?
“When he hits people, they go backward,” defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said.
With so much NFL talent, including three projected first-round picks in Will Johnson, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, you might have forgotten about Barham. There’s not a lot of coverage around him, no flashy NIL deals, and he isn’t popping on mock drafts quite yet.
But this coaching staff seems convinced he’s bound for stardom immediately.
“He is a physical specimen … He’s super quiet, and so that makes him a little more mysterious and scary,” Sherrone Moore said during the Inside Michigan Football Radio Show. “Max Bredeson said it’s the ‘hardest dude I’ve ever hit’ — and Max Bredeson likes to hit. But Max is like, ‘That dude is like a wall.’ This guy is physical, he’s strong, he’s fast, he can play in coverage, he can play on the edge, he can play in the middle.”
Is there anything missing from his game?
“He just brings everything.”
What analysts are saying about Barham
Since fall camp began, there’s been a flurry of college football analysts, NFL Draft experts, and film junkies beginning loving Barham’s profile.
I gathered all the recent praise for the Michigan linebacker from national analysts in the section below.
Pro Football Focus
Jim Nagy (Senior Bowl Director)
Eric Galko (Shrine Bowl Director)
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