After meeting Central Michigan’s running back at the line of scrimmage on the first play of the second half, senior linebacker Jaishawn Barham went down. He didn’t get back up until the medical staff came onto the field, and he didn’t return later.
Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi said postgame that he’ll be fine, but before that Poggi offered another sort of update.
“Yes, the update,” Poggi said with a pause when asked for an update on Barham’s injury. “He might be a superhero. We’re doing a DNA swab right now, but he could be — that’s the update. He’s fine.”
If his final play was any indication, Barham should’ve been wearing a cape for the No. 23 Michigan football team. In just one half and one play Saturday, Barham came off the edge for six tackles and two sacks. His dominance made all 11 Chippewas look pedestrian.
Central Michigan’s first play of the game was much akin to the one to start the second half. Quarterback Joe Labas rolled to his right. There, he met Barham and then the ground an instant later. Barham’s sack set the Chippewas back 8 yards on the way to forcing a three-and-out.
With just under a minute to go in the first quarter, the Chippewas finally pulled themselves out of the negatives for yards gained on the day. Barham wasn’t about to let that happen.
The following play was another play action pass. For Labas, that meant being brought down by Barham for the second time. Before Labas could even look downfield, Barham wrapped him up and tossed him into the turf.
“Going against him in practice every single day is not fun,” Wolverines sophomore running back Jordan Marshall said. “Especially in camp when we’re pretty live and we’re hitting each other, it’s no fun. He’s a problem, and I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Every time Barham has been on the field this season, he has been a superhero or a problem, depending on one’s perspective. Michigan’s issue has been just keeping Barham out there, inducing fear in opposing backfields.
Saturday was essentially the third straight game in which Barham’s been limited to one half. Previously, it was all due to a targeting call on what otherwise would have been a strip sack that he returned for a touchdown against New Mexico.
When Barham returned in the second half the following week against then-No. 18 Oklahoma, he was an elite edge player yet again. Barham recorded six total tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss in the effort to limit Sooners quarterback John Mateer.
Against Central Michigan, the Wolverines didn’t need Barham in the second half as desperately as they did at Oklahoma. Michigan began pulling its defensive starters not long after he went down anyway.
The Wolverines have seen enough of how Barham’s absence limits them, and not enough of how his skill on the edge can take over games. With Poggi assuring that Barham is fine, Michigan hopes it’ll finally get Barham for an entire game soon — rather than one half in a cape and one off the field.
The post Jaishawn Barham ‘a superhero’ off the edge against Central Michigan appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
Leave a Reply