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Podcast: Michigan lands Jaishawn Barham, instant impact signees, burgergate allegations, more

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•12/22/23•

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Jim Harbaugh
(Photo by Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)

On this episode of TheWolverine.com podcast, Clayton Sayfie, Anthony Broome and Chris Balas discuss U-M landing Maryland transfer linebacker Jaishawn Barham, National Signing Day now that it’s in the rear view, the NCAA dishing a notice of allegations and more.

Watch this episode in the video player above or on our YouTube channel. Listen in the embed below or search ‘The Wolverine’ wherever you get your podcasts.

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The hosts began by breaking down Barham to Michigan.

“A great pickup,” Balas said. “It kind of came out of nowhere, but with that pipeline, it doesn’t surprise, you, I guess, St. Frances.

“Here’s the thing, when it comes to recruiting, Michigan had the No. 17 recruiting class in 2024. You have to add in the portal guys, and those guys are automatic four-star players. You can go down the list of all the guys that contributed to Michigan from the portal this year and last year. There are some five-star guys in there, too. That’s making a huge difference with how Michigan is conducting business on the recruiting trail, especially with the transformational, not transactional, approach that they are taking.

“So, huge pickup, and they will continue to be active in there. They’ll look for wide receivers, they’ll look for a quarterback — either a backup or a starter, depending on what [Michigan junior quarterback] J.J. McCarthy does. They’re going to be looking for a defensive lineman, most likely, and have been. We’ve seen them extend some offers. And then corners, as well. So, recruiting is not finished, fellas. It’s gonna continue, but this is a big piece. I would imagine with [graduate] Michael Barrett leaving a potentially [junior] Junior Colson, this kid is going to have the opportunity to play obviously right away, and with [sophomore] Ernest Hausmann in there and some of the other guys, it should be a strong linebacking corps next year as well.”

“It’s a great addition,” Broome chimed in of Michigan landing Barham. “I stop short of calling anything a home run, because you just never know, but when you look at what he brings to the table, he’s a guy that has 41 pressures and 7 sacks over the last two seasons. He’s a guy who I think you can work in, in that SAM rotation. I think he can play some inside linebacker. And, to me, that’s the key trait that he’s bringing to the table for this program is the versatility.”

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