Sherrone Moore identifies Michigan breakout defenders, shares evaluation of the cornerbacks

Michigan Wolverines football saw several players break out in a 34-17 win over New Mexico to kick off the 2025 campaign, many of them on the defensive side of the ball.

Senior linebacker Jaishawn Barham was ejected in the third quarter due to a questionable targeting call, and he’ll be out for the first half of this week’s game at Oklahoma as a result. Barham was productive and laying big hits while out there, but the Wolverines have plenty of depth at the position.

Senior Ernest Hausmann led Michigan with 8 tackles, while classmate Jimmy Rolder added 4 — including 1 behind the line of scrimmage — and sophomore Cole Sullivan flashed with a fourth-down sack and interception.

“He’ll be missed in that first half, but also excited about the rest of the crew,” head coach Sherrone Moore said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “Ernest Hausmann played his tail off, and he had 8 tackles. He was all over the field. He was directing the defense.

“But you felt like when Jimmy Rolder came in you didn’t really lose that much. Jimmy Rolder is a starter for us. And then young kid, Cole Sullivan, is electric to us, and we think he’s going to be special. He went in there and was just like, it’s not like you forgot Jaishawn was gone, but you didn’t feel that affect as much with those three guys in there.

“Coach BJ [Brian Jean-Mary] has done a really good job with that group, and Coach [defensive coordinator] Wink [Martindale] putting those guys in position. I feel like those guys are doing a really good job, and then adding a guy like [junior] Troy Bowles in the mix, who had the final sack of the game and is just a hard hitter, violent player. And then [freshman] Chase Taylor, as well. So, you feel like you’ve got a good group of guys to go in there and go win the battles.”

Sullivan received buzz all offseason, for the way he changed his body, worked hard and established himself as someone who will demand playing time. He backed all of that up, and then some, with a huge performance in Michigan’s opener.

“Just freaky size,” Moore said of what stands out about the Pennsylvanian. “He’s like 6-5, 230-something pounds. I don’t know what his 40 is, but he’s fast. It’s hard to run away from him. Long, athletic, great vertical, but he’s gotten so much stronger, so much more violent.

“And his ability to kind of do the things that Jaishawn does with being an inside linebacker but playing on the edge is what has us really excited about his future.

“He’s a sponge, man, and he’s just worked his tail off all of training camp, and you can see it coming to fruition and see the product on the field.”

Michigan junior safety Brandyn Hillman, meanwhile, laid some big hits and brings energy on the back end of the defense.

“B-Hill is a tone-setter in every sense of the word,” Moore said. ‘He does that in practice. Now the cool thing about it is how he practices — he practices that speed, but he’s able to turn it off when it comes to hitting his teammates. He knows how to give them a nice jolt and make them feel it, but not try to knock them out. He always lets them know, ‘You would’ve been hurt right there, I’m just telling you.’

“The coolest thing is when he made that first hit, I looked to my left and I don’t if [freshman quarterback] Bryce [Underwood] had just gotten off the phones with [offensive coordinator] Coach [Chip] Lindsey, but he was up and was like, ‘Ohhh, B-Hill. Here we go!’ 

“It’s fun to watch the kid play, because he plays so fast, but that’s how he practices.”

Hillman notched an interception on fourth down that he could’ve batted down, adding 5 tackles, including a half-stop for loss.

Junior TJ Metcalf played a huge role, too, starting next to Hillman at safety and sliding down to the slot corner position when Michigan was in nickel defense. He posted 3 tackles, including a half-stop for loss, too. He was disruptive blitzing off the edge on multiple low red zone snaps but was also solid in coverage.

“I thought he played well,” Moore said of Metcalf. “Continue to just pull that trigger, because he’s got it and he does it, but I thought he played fast and played physical.”

Michigan’s cornerback play up and down

Senior Zeke Berry played a clean game, but his fellow Michigan corners had their ups and downs. Junior Jyaire Hill allowed a touchdown after committing a pass interference penalty in the end zone, which spotted the ball at the 2-yard line. Sophomore Jo’Ziah Edmond, too, committed a penalty and was beat in coverage in allowing 2 receptions.

“I thought pretty well,” Moore said of how Michigan’s corners performed. “We had a couple plays. Those touchdowns were just eyes — eye violations, things that we have to fix with JoJo [Edmond] and ‘Sug’ [Hill]. But overall, ‘Sug’ played really well. So did JoJo. But Zeke Berry played really well.

“We had some penalties on the edge with the pass interference. There was one that was out of bounds. But those guys played physical, which we really wanted them to do. We have to continue to tackle on the perimeter. But they played physical, which we wanted to see them do.”