ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s been two games since Michigan football linebacker Jaishawn Barham started being utilized primarily at EDGE. And he wreaked so much havoc in his second game, at Nebraska, that the Cornhuskers’ head coach, Matt Rhule, proclaimed that Barham could be a top 10 NFL draft pick.
“I walked up to him after the game, I said, ‘You’re a top 10 pick,'” Rhule said. “That move disrupted everything. He didn’t play that against Oklahoma; he played off the ball, and he’s a great off-the-ball linebacker. But he is a difference-maker coming off the edge.”
Wolverines defensive coordinator Wink Martindale won’t quite go that far. But there’s one thing he knows: Barham is incredibly violent at his new position, and he’s not come anywhere close to his potential.
“Neither Matt or myself are going to draft anybody,” Martindale said. “So it’s real easy to just throw out ‘a top 10 pick’ because you don’t know the rest of the country and who’s coming out and everything else. I just know he’s a good football player.
“I don’t think that he has a ceiling. I think he’s just going to keep getting better. And I know he loves playing in this defense.”
Barham has universally been known as a quiet person. He’s not met with the media in his year-plus with the program. That’s added to his mystique, especially given how hard he hits when he gets to the ball carrier or quarterback. He hit New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne so hard in Week 1 that he lost the football. It was ruled targeting, despite a lot of controversy, especially in the aftermath. But you mix his quiet with his on-field violence, and it creates something of a persona.
His fellow edge rusher and teammate since high school, Derrick Moore, surprised, saying that Barham is quiet behind the scenes, but on the field, he does more than just letting his pads do the talking.
“He ain’t gonna say too much,” Moore said. “I mean on the field, he’s crazy on the field, he’s probably the most trash talker on the field. Y’all probably wouldn’t even believe that, but yeah — he’s probably the most trash talker on the field. But outside of football, he likes to stay cool.”
Martindale added on Wednesday that Barham isn’t quiet because he truly is a menacing character — it’s more thoughtful than that. And while he may not say much, his play on the field is something special that doesn’t come around very often.
“That’s who he is. That’s his personality,” Martindale said. “I think some people take him being quiet and just looking at you as being mean, and he’s just trying to figure people out, just like we all do. But he hits, and those guys are unique. So enjoy it while you’re seeing it.”
In just two games at EDGE, Barham has three sacks — good for 44th in the country through five weeks of college football. Fans will get to see Barham and the defense in action again on Saturday when Michigan football hosts Wisconsin for a noon kick at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jaishawn Barham’s quiet demeanor off the field contrasts with violent play on it
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
