16. Michael Barrett
We definitely don’t expect Michael Barrett to finish this low on the list once he gets going.
ICYMI, Don Brown raved about Michigan’s next VIPER on Thursday:
“I’ve seen enough out of Michael Barrett to be excited. Runs 4.51 – that’s fast! At 220-pounds. So that’s a good place to start. He’s had a tremendous role model in Khaleke Hudson that showed him the way. He’s worked extremely hard and has a very close relationship with Cam McGrone in particular and Josh Ross. That chemistry, that camaraderie that you search for that allows some groups to be exceptional I think is there. So that’s the place we’ll start.
We’ve seen the flashes on special teams as well as in the position itself in the 2019 Spring Game. But we don’t know how he’ll handle it once he actually takes the field at VIPER against a team in an opposing uniform.
2020 will be Barrett’s third year with the team, but also his first real playing time. Thus, he’s a veritable unknown. We know he’s athletic, as Brown mentioned above, but that doesn’t always translate to elite football playmaking in games.
His predecessor in Hudson was an athletic freak with three years of starting experience, but went in the fifth-round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Doubt that Barrett can improve on that in one year of playing the position, but after two or three? It’s certainly possible.
Where we see him as of now?
Seventh-round.