No player at Michigan was more hyped this offseason than Jaishawn Barham.
It's nothing the player caused or should be concerned with, but Barham was turning heads and earning praise all offseason. Expectations for the former Maryland linebacker were sky high, inside and outside Schembechler Hall. His own expectations may have been even higher.
To start the season, Barham's mistakes have gotten more attention than his plays. With coaches comparing him to Devin Bush, no one expected Barham to struggle.
Poor coverage, missed assignments, missed tackles, stuck out during Michigan's first two games. The defense in general, seemed out of sync and not as suffocating as many expected. Since Texas, the defense has adjusted and started to find a groove. There are still mistakes, but the group is improving, and Barham is a part of that.
"He's gotten better every week," linebacker coach Brian Jean-Mary told the media Wednesday. "I know it doesn't always show on the stat sheet or sometimes on the video, but he's getting more comfortable in the system. I think he's making a lot more tackles within the system."
Barham knows his potential and possibly tried to do to much to start the year. Coming from a defense where he was the star and carried the unit, he is adapting and finding his role in Michigan's system.
"I think he gets frustrated. He's a dynamic guy when it comes to pressuring the quarterback, and people are ID'ing him, which I tell him is part of it. It helps free up some of the other guys on defense, and that's one of the things that happens when you're a good player, and especially as explosive as he is. He's been doing a better job of playing within the framework of the defense."
There's no doubt Barham is a freak athlete and a heavy hitting linebacker, but it's about finding the balance and control. No longer does he have to be the guy at all times, but he is just one of eleven in a system where staying in your pocket leads to group success.
"I think it's a challenge that he's embracing. I think he came here for a reason. He saw the success that we had and obviously the success that guys like Junior and Mike Barrett had in the past, and I think he understood it was going to be different, and he's getting better at it. He understands there's a lot of good players on that field with him, and he just wants to be a part of it. Anything he can do to help us win, I think he's all for it. It's always frustrating. You want guys that want to make tackles. You want guys that want to make the game-changing plays and are able to wreck offense's game plans. You want that. You don't want to take that away from them, but he's understanding how to do that within the framework of what we do."
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