jaishawn barham

Offense was yesterday, but after I was finished I realized I forgot to give a depth chart status. Then I thought we could use the Don Brown Dude Code for depth charting. Then I repurposed the icons that Brian got from some internet Flash game during the blog's distant past.

Icon	Name	Meaning
	Rock Star	Player is an All-American/1st rounder/bends the game around him.
	Dude	Trusted good starter. Probably All-B10 or in the running.
	Guy	Playable B10-caliber guy, very fine in a rotation.
	Iffy	Probably don't want him playing extended snaps at this point.

Defense in General

The question we're asking is: Is Wink gonna blitz too much?

But they're acting like it's: What does "blitz too much" mean?

What are we hearing? First off I need to be going on about something again, because I was out of town last week and thus missed my chance to remark on Michigan's hiring of former WMU and Memphis line coach Lou Esposito. If the name sounds familiar to you (you're misremembering famous Canadian hockey players and) you remember this author's longstanding appreciation of Bronco linemen like Ali Fayad (DE on the top).

Fayad was the first but they kept coming. Ralph Holley. Braden Fiske. Andre Carter. Marshawn Kneeland. At one point while UFR'ing the offense versus WMU I decided to look up who was responsible for these guys, and have been hoping Michigan would have an opportunity to pluck Esposito ever since. Can he recruit? I dunno. But he can coach.

Michigan also made the addition of defensive analyst Lionel Stokes official, while Alejandro found Pernell McPhee enrolled as a grad student in the School of Social Work. Stokes was LaMar Morgan's guy at Louisiana and before that an FCS coordinator. McPhee is expected to be an analyst as well, but NCAA rules allow grad assistants to be on-field coaches for a couple of years so maybe he's gonna do that.

Staff set, let's turn back to a bullet defined the offense bits this week, which was the front seven is being rather harsh on the passing game. Henschke:($):

Wink’s pressures and blitzes “handled” the offense thoroughly. … The defense is always ahead of the offense early but the offense needs time to get rhythm and gel, a lot of early pressure by Wink doesn’t necessarily allow that but it’s good practice.

There's also this from Ernest Hausmann:

Jean-Mary is imploring the group to be more disruptive in the pass game.

Wink, while calling himself the system's OG, did little to suppress the talk that he represents a more basal, aggressive antecessor of the Mac-Minter defenses.

I am more aggressive than Jesse and the proof is in the pudding. So we’ll see how it works and if we can get to the quarterback rushing three, we will rush three. That’s the way football is. You just got to see how it changes because people are adjusted to us, too.

What it means? Dear only fanbase in football that wants to hear their DC talk about blitzing *less*: Jesse Minter was able to use a lot of sim pressures without committing that many rushers, but Wink's correct that opponents have this on tape and will adjust. If you want feints to keep working you have to punch too. The pressures will go up, but it'll be in the context of all the sim pressures that Minter was using, not the blitz-to-play-man that he ran in Baltimore with the league's most expensive secondary, or in New York with the league's worst starting field position. Chill. Not you Wink.

[After THE JUMP: Dudes, potential rock stars, and a big bummer.]

Previously: Offense.

DEFENSIVE END

A paring of Derrick Moore and Josiah Stewart might not be particularly far off the legendary Hutchinson-Ojabo pairing from 2021. Stewart and Moore were already Michigan's top edge guys per PFF, and they were more or less indistinguishable from the departed Braiden McGregor and Jaylen Harrell in UFR grading.

Neither was exactly a star in 2023, but it's not hard to extrapolate them from very good rotation players into stars with another year of development They had pass rush win rates of 17% (Stewart) and 15% (Moore), which was good for 18th and 43rd, respectively, amongst 251 P5 edges with at least 100 snaps. Meanwhile, you may remember some grousing in this space about Stewart not holding the edge in a couple early games but once he got that figured out he was an excellent run defender.

Also: the way Michigan ran its pass rush last year probably put a cap on just how highly they could grade out. Guys like Chop Robinson and Bralen Trice are sent off the edge over and over; Michigan played a ton of games up front to take advantage of their DT's rush and a lot of snaps had DEs diving inside in ways that aren't likely to get an individual pass rush win but could, say, lead to six sacks of Jalen Milroe.

Moore in particular has a flight path that makes you expect a first round draft selection after 2024: highly touted recruit, contributes as true freshman, basically interchangeable with a draftable senior as a true sophomore, ignition time. Stewart will be entering year four and probably doesn't have the ceiling Moore does but he doesn't have to get a whole lot better to vie for All-American-level output.

The main question is depth. There is no shame in getting locked behind Michigan's elite foursome last year but it does mean we have vanishingly little data on any of the guys vying for rotation snaps been Moore and Stewart. TJ Guy did look solid in about 80 garbage time snaps a year ago.

If the main problem here is "who is the backup anchor" I think it'll be okay.

[After THE JUMP: mmmm DTs]

Michigan earned their first commitment from the transfer portal on National Signing Day, bringing in LB Jaishawn Barham from B1G East rival Maryland. Let's get to know Barham using some of the tape accumulated from two years of FFFFs and what others are saying: 

As a recruit

Barham was a member of the class of 2022 recruiting cycle, hailing from District Heights, MD, and attending St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. His HS career began with Barham attending DeMatha Catholic and ended at St. Frances, a journey that saw him dip his toes into two of the biggest brands in national HS athletics. Barham was a prized recruit, ranking 119th in the 247 composite, 10th among LBs and 3rd among players in the state of Maryland. Opinions of him were quite favorable, as you'd expect. Here's Brian Dohn of 247 on his eval of Barham, the recruit: 

Good frame with ability to add mass and size. Plays outside linebacker in high school but style is suited to move inside in college. High level athlete with elite change of direction ability. Very good at sifting through traffic in the box to locate ball carrier. Hits gaps quickly. Highly active in running game and pursues well. Has understanding to stack and shed. Sure tackler with closing speed. Has excellent body control in space. Strong with his depth drops in coverage and is comfortable in space

The negatives Dohn would go onto cite was a need to bulk up and improve as a blitzer and in man coverage. Here was the take from Rivals' Adam Friedman: 

Barham is a big, explosive linebacker that can cover a lot of ground for his size. He has good instincts and doesn't have a problem finding the ball carrier. Barham is a physical tackler that can cause fumbles or caused receivers to drop passes. He does a nice job of disrupting running back, tight ends, or receivers while they're in their routes

Friedman went on to note that he was high on Barham's blitzing potential, a bit sunnier than Dohn you might say. The general consensus between the various scouting reports on Barham was that he was a big-frame LB (at the time listed at 6'3", 230), fast, physical, loving to tackle and hunt the ball in run defense, capable of moving in space as well as anyone. There were some questions about the refinement of his technique in various areas of the game, but the upside and athletic package was largely undeniable. 

Those physical gifts made him an obviously attractive recruit, gifting Barham his top 150 ranking. All four services had him in the top 300 and all but On3 placed him inside the top 150. Barham was a legitimate blue chip and coming from a national power in St. Frances, there was plenty of interest. He took official visits to four schools, PSU, South Carolina, Maryland, and Oklahoma, with his recruitment coming down to two of those four, South Carolina and in-state Maryland. The final period was a whirlwind, with Barham committing to South Carolina on Saturday, December 11, 2021, but then flipped to the Terps just four days later, on Wednesday, December 15. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: How he did in college and the fit at Michigan]