Last year, there was a little hype with Michigan football given both the team it already had and the transfers it brought in. This year, not many outside of Ann Arbor are talking about either.
The Wolverines have a solid cast of characters returning from last season’s national championship team and they were very selective when it came to supplementing with transfers. The first two that joined the team, however, are the ones who are poised to make the most noise in 2024, ESPN says.
ESPN put out its 2024 preseason all-transfer team (subscription required) and despite not having a lot of hype behind Michigan’s additions, two players did make the cut.
The first one listed was the first to join the team back in December in left guard Josh Priebe. Described internally perhaps as the best offensive lineman (which says a lot), Priebe was described by Grant Newsome on Wednesday as having a similar impact to that of center Olu Oluwatimi joining the team in 2022.
OG: Josh Priebe, Michigan (via Northwestern)
The Wolverines inked only two players out of the portal in December during their run to the national championships, but it sure looks like both will be hits. Priebe, a 6-foot-5, 306-pound grad transfer from Northwestern, brings Big Ten experience with his 28 career starts and was a team captain for the Wildcats. Sherrone Moore has had a nice track record of finding O-line transfers capable of competing at a high level for Michigan, and it looks like Priebe will be a steadying force at guard for a new-look line.
The other is someone who’s been suddenly getting a ton of hype, and it’s emanating from the practice outward.
There’s perhaps no player who is being talked about more these days in Ann Arbor than that of Jaishawn Barham, whose penchant for hitting amid his physical prowess has the coaches salivating and opposing players trembling.
LB: Jaishawn Barham, Michigan (via Maryland)
The Wolverines’ hit rate on the transfers they brought in last year for their national title run proved to be extremely high. Barham is already looking like another win for them. The 6-foot-3, 248-pound linebacker comes in with two seasons of Big Ten starting experience and recorded 98 tackles, 28 pressures, 9.5 TFLs and 7 sacks at Maryland, earning Freshman All-America honors in 2022.
Though on the other side of the ball as a coach, Newsome proclaimed on Wednesday that Barham might be the best linebacker that Michigan has had due to both his capability along with his size.
Both players will start at their respective positions and should be high-impact players. And though they don’t have the same name recognition as a Quinshon Judkins, a Dillon Gabriel, or an Isaiah Bond, both should be huge for the Wolverines and their chances of success in 2024.