ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One of the key components to Michigan football’s recent run in both the Big Ten and the College Football Playoff has been outstanding linebacker play.
Though the Wolverines have had serviceable — and sometimes great — linebackers in the past decade, it was only in the past three years that the corps as a whole has played at an elite level. Thus, it’s no surprise that with Junior Colson, Mike Barrett and Ernest Hausmann last year the maize and blue won the national championship.
The first two are gone to the NFL, but the Wolverines still have Hausmann, and they brought in Maryland transfer Jaishawn Barham in December to start opposite him.
We got our first glimpse of Hausmann in the spring game on Saturday, and while he didn’t show up often in the stat sheet, anyone paying attention could see just how disruptive he can be. There are murmurs that Michigan feels it perhaps got a first-round type of talent in the former freshman All-American and three-time All-Big Ten player.
On Monday, WolverinesWire asked Sherrone Moore what he’s seen from Barham this spring and he’s appreciated not only the play on the field, but the workmanship he’s had behind the scenes which is helping him earn the respect of his teammates.
“Instinctual, physical, violent, fast — everything you want in a linebacker,” Moore said. “As quiet as can be, just goes about his business the right way, just how we like the transfers that come in here. They just come in, assimilate themselves in the culture and keep attacking.
“So he’s been outstanding, and just I can’t wait to see what he does.”
With Barham’s attitude entering his third year being one of leading by example, it harkens back to when players like Olu Oluwatimi joined and managed to galvanize the entire team around him. When you have what Michigan currently has — a strong, player-led culture — in order to become a leader, you have to show you can abide by that culture through your work ethic.
It appears Barham is doing just that, which should pay dividends for the maize and blue this fall.