Steve Lorenz puts in Crystal Ball for Maryland LB Jaishawn Barham to transfer to Michigan

Submitted by Bambi on December 11th, 2023 at 9:25 AM

https://247sports.com/PlayerInstitution/jaishawn-barham-at-maryland-281090/CurrentTransferInstitutionPredictions/

Barham just finished his true Sophomore season, was a former top 100ish recruit. He's the same year and from the same high school as Derrick Moore. 

He missed a few games this year but had 3 sacks and 40 tackles after putting up 60 tackles and 4 sacks last year. Had 7 tackles and the goal line INT of JJ in this year's game.

blueheron

December 11th, 2023 at 9:40 AM ^

His linebacker coach is going to be Matt Entz. See, UM is going to yank him away from USC (who got him to give up a good FCS head coaching job to be a position coach at what may soon be a middle-of-the-road football school). I learned this on Twitter/X from a Michigan "insider."

- - -

Anyway, if I go back to 2022 this looks pretty good:

https://247sports.com/Player/jaishawn-barham-46077012/high-school-227638/

OuldSod

December 11th, 2023 at 9:48 AM ^

Maryland is a good enough school. He will likely get ~50/60 credits to transfer towards his department major/college. With summer classes, he can earn his degree "on time" and won't have to stay at Michigan an extra semester or year to earn his degree. He probably won't have to retake classes other than Freshman Writing.  

Bo Schemheckler

December 11th, 2023 at 10:02 AM ^

From FFFF:

"Barham was a very green starter last season, paddling away as a true freshman at the toughest position on the defense and he handled the job with surprising success. This season he has remained a strong blitzer and run defender but has struggled in coverage, averaging out to a decent but not star-level bottom line."

bronxblue

December 11th, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^

Seems like a talented guy who'd be a nice addition.  Seems like a lot of kids are seeing how good UM is at developing guys and want in; that's a nice feeling to have after some rough years there.

alum96

December 11th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^

Nice

It's great to have Indiana and Maryland as our farm system

(no on a serious note while I love it for Michigan, has to be utterly frustrating to be a fan of a team not at the top of the food chain - anyone you develop is basically walking)

The linebacker, a former four-star recruit, came to Maryland as a late flip from South Carolina and started immediately. He exploded in his first year, leading the Terps in tackles for loss and sacks. He had slightly muted numbers as a sophomore but was named All-Big Ten honorable mention.

“A special talent, special individual. He knows the game, loves the game,” Maryland senior linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II said midseason. “He has an ability to come off the edge and play in the box. On third downs, he gets to the quarterback and then, first and second down, he’s in the box making plays as well. Very special talent, all-around player. ... He’s that guy.”

The top recruits in each of Maryland’s last three recruiting classes — Chop Robinson, Barham and Rico Walker — have all transferred.

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/college-sports/maryland-football-jaishawn-barham-transfer-portal-QUQ2JV2UW5EEPL6FD7T3SAVKHI/

Didn't realize Chop Robinson was at Maryland before PSU!

King Tot

December 11th, 2023 at 1:27 PM ^

Considering the only transfer LB I know of coming is in EH (didn't you swear up and down he would start of Barrett?) it seems a bit hyperbolic to say we have to "keep poaching" guys. The problem is that we have recruited well at the position. Most of those guys who left did do because they got passed by younger guys.

 

trueblueintexas

December 11th, 2023 at 12:04 PM ^

That's the double edged sword. I think it's great student athletes have more freedom to do what is best for them. For the vast majority of schools it's going to suck losing your better players year after year just so the rich get richer while your left with whatever trickles down from the top or you can scavenge from below. 

When free agency started in the NFL it changed the dynamic of team building and they had to institute a salary cap so there wouldn't be permanent tiers of teams. There's no way to institute a salary cap in college. While there have always been blue-blood programs and some form of tiers, it's going to become even more pronounced. Especially within the top two conferences. In the B1G will anyone other than Michigan, OSU, Oregon, USC, PSU & maybe Washington ever win the conference again? That leaves 12 teams playing for what? Same in the SEC. Outside of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas & maybe Oklahoma and Florida no one else could win that conference. 

This is the one argument for a 12 team playoff. Those top teams will almost always be in now. Any other team is basically hoping for the 1% chance they can have a dream season and be ranked in the top 12 and make it to the playoff despite finishing third or lower in their conference. 

Perkis-Size Me

December 11th, 2023 at 10:37 AM ^

I don't pay much attention to portal / transfer rules, but I know that once upon a time the school that a player was transferring from could either slow down, if not shut down entirely, one of their player's abilities to transfer to a team within their own conference, or at least to a team within the same division. I guess with the idea being that they didn't want to hurt themselves by losing a player and having them go directly to a team they're competing with every year. 

Is something like that still in place? I wouldn't think so in this Wild West of portal/NIL that we're living in, and I know we're going division-less next year, but I thought that this was a thing once upon a time where if you tried transferring to a team within your own conference, or especially within the same division, the school you're transferring from could opt to make that process very difficult for you. 

AZBlue

December 11th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^

That is long gone.

Not 100% sure it was ever an official "rule", but it was at minimum a gentleman's agreement between coaches to not poach from inside the conference. 

Technically it was possible for a school to prohibit an undergrad transfer to specific schools but in practice it was incredibly bad PR for the coach and school so it rarely happened -- see Spike A. transferring to Indiana under Beilein.

mwolverine1

December 11th, 2023 at 11:24 AM ^

You're thinking of Branden Jennings, who:

  • Committed to Michigan October 2020
  • Flipped to Maryland in December 2020
  • Played at Maryland in 2021
  • Entered the portal and transferred to Kansas State in January 2022
  • Re-entered the portal and transferred to UCF in May 2022
  • Played at UCF in 2022
  • Entered the portal AGAIN and went to JuCo in August 2023
  • Just committed to Mississippi State out of JuCo

He'll be on his 5th school in 4 years as of next year. 

JonnyHintz

December 11th, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^

Really? We returned both starters (we only play 2 at a time) at a position that isn’t high rotation to begin with, brought in a transfer that started at another p5 school, and that gave us the luxury to redshirt Rolder, who played over 300 snaps last year as a true freshman. 
 

Four guys with over 300 snaps for two positions isn’t something I’d describe as “concerning.” 

TeslaRedVictorBlue

December 11th, 2023 at 12:35 PM ^

is he big enough that he could be an edge rusher? OLB type and not an ILB which we seem to have plenty of? One thing that I think our Defense does not amazingly is get to the passer. get home. Yes, they do it better than most, but im comparing it to our new standard where we're great at all levels with future pros... and the DL is missing some speedy beef. Arby's new slogan. Arby's. Speedy Beef. Both in and out.