Defense/ST Notes: Michigan issues response to Jaishawn Barham targeting ejection

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines were mostly dominant, sans a few hiccups, in the 34-17 season-opening win over New Mexico at the Big House. But a potential blow to next week’s showdown at Oklahoma occurred in the process.

Senior linebacker Jaishawn Barham was ejected from the game after a targeting call in the third quarter, forcing him to miss the first half of next week’s game in Norman pending an appeal. It had initially looked like Barham sacked New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne and recovered a fumble for a touchdown, a lengthy review showed the QB was down and also triggered a questionable targeting call. The Lobos would march down the field and score, bringing the score to 27-17 late in the third quarter instead of a 34-10 advantage for the Wolverines.

Michigan was able to overcome it, though. Sophomore linebacker Cole Sullivan slid into Barham’s role and made his impact felt in the fourth quarter with a sack and an interception to go with his 5 tackles. Senior Jimmy Rolder and junior Troy Bowles also got some run.

“That group is elite,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said after the game. “They’re four deep. We feel very strongly about that group. You know that. We’re going to talk about the ejection when we get to that point with the Big Ten and handling that because we don’t agree. And we’ll handle it from there.

“But overall, Ernest [Hausmann], Jimmy [Rolder], Cole, those guys, we look at as starters as well. We play them every single day, and those guys are moving fast. And Cole Sullivan is putting in a lot of work. And I said this in Big Ten Media Days of how I thought he would really step up. And it wasn’t really a surprise to watch him do what he did today. And to watch Jimmy play like he did wasn’t a surprise either. So we got a really good group of linebackers.”

Moore and Michigan will kick things up a notch in hopes of overturning the targeting ejection and having Barham on the field next weekend in full. The explanation was not clear at the time, U-M’s head coachsaid.

“I kind of blacked out on the explanation,” Moore admitted. “It really wasn’t really that detailed of an explanation. So we’ll go with the process. And I’ll reach out to whoever I need to reach out to in the Big Ten and go from there.”

Junior safety Brandyn Hillman, a hard-hitter by trade himself, defended his teammate after the win.

“I think it was a clean hit. It’s football, it’s aggressive, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Hillman said after the game. “Jaishawn and I are cool. Jaishawn is cool, a good mindset right now. He’s chilling. It’s football, a contact sport. I don’t really have anything else to say to that. I’d probably do the same shit, excuse my language.”

Hillman was also impressed with the way Sullivan stepped up when called into extended action.

“Cole really took it upon himself to really try to push himself into that starter,” Hillman said. “To me, and I’d say Coach Wink [Martindale], we really have four starting linebackers. Cole has really been putting in the work this offseason, this fall to really get himself in this spot. And today, really to see him hone into what he’s been putting into the offseason.”

Emotions were high, but Hillman said the Michigan coaching staff makes sure they rep unexpected moments and attitude swings so they are ready for changing climates in games.

“Our coaches put us in good predicaments for stuff like this,” Hillman said. “We have situations that we go through and everything at practice, to where we kind of prepare ourselves for the unexpected, I would say. For real, he kind of prepares us for the unexpected, so having little things like that on the field happen, it kind of just gets us back to our day one training, what the coaches have really taught us, and we just have to come together as a team and just focus and keep playing football.”

Metcalf on Michigan debut, ‘positionless defense’

Michigan’s starting nickel battle got a big answer on Saturday with Arkansas transfer TJ Metcalf stepping into the role. But the defensive back room has been cross-trained for multiple guys to get reps in different positions. He feels the group showed that.

“Really, I just think you just saw a glimpse of it,” Metcalf said. “We got a lot of guys that can play, a lot of different positions. Most of our corners can play nickel. Most of our safeties can play nickel. And I’m just that guy at nickel at first when they call nickel. But I think we have a lot of versatility in the room. It is really good for us. I. Whenever we need a different type of body or a different player with a different play style, at the right down and distance, we need to put a player out there to showcase his talent.

“But I think that’s really good for us that we got a lot of guys that can play different positions, because I think it’s gonna help us in the long run.”

Metcalf and his brother, Tevis, both got to get their feet wet in the winged helmet inside Michigan Stadium. It met what he thought he would get out of the experience.

“It was everything I expected it to be. I loved it,” Metcalf said. “It didn’t really hit me until pregame started. I just saw my teammates all hyped up. Everybody was ready to go, and I think that just fueled my fire and made me want to go out there and play for my brothers. I enjoyed it a lot. I think we did a good job out there. There were a lot of things that we could clean up, but my first time in the Big House was fun.

He also praised how the group responded to Barham’s ejection.

We knew it wasn’t the type of call that we were expecting at that point in the game. But no, it really wasn’t too much said.. We all just had that look. I looked at my teammates and we just had that look like everybody, it’s time to do it for him now. Like I look and be here and see it in his eyes. It was that time now. If they want to take one of our best players out of the game, then, showing that they were wrong for doing that. But, it happens. We got the job done.

Defensive performance

New Mexico was dominated for most of the game, but its two touchdowns came on drives of 12 and 15 plays, respectively. The second was the drive Barham was ejected on. Moore said the Lobos were focused on getting the ball out fast to neutralize the pass rush.

“That’s what you’ve got to deal with when you’ve got a good D-line and you’ve got a good pass rush,” Moore said. “The guys are going to get the ball out as fast as possible. So I thought our guys did a really good job of tackling for the most part. We had a couple of missed tackles, but not very much. And you see in week one of college football, there’s a lot of missed tackles. I did a study, there’s like an average of 15 to 20 that people have during a game, and I thought we limited those on special teams and on defense. And when you do that, you’re going to play winning football.”

The Michigan defense on the field in Saturday night’s game was essentially the one that took down Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl. It has long been stated that served as a confidence boost heading into the year, and Hillman felt that too.

“The Alabama game really helped,” Hillman said. “A lot of people who played today played in the Alabama game. So, I’ll say yeah. Just going out and competing against a really good team like ‘Bama, and then coming out and playing another team with the same people, I think that really helps us hone in on our skills and focus and have that confidence about ourselves that they can play the game at a fast level.”

Miscellaneous Michigan defense and special teams notes

• Seven Michigan defensive players made their collegiate debuts on Saturday night: Freshmen defensive backs Elijah Dotson, Jordan Young and Jayden Sanders, freshman linebacker Chase Taylor, freshman EDGE Nate Marshall, sophomore defensive back Tevis Metcalf and sophomore EDGE Lugard Edokpayi.

• Four additional defensive players made their program debuts in junior linebacker Troy Bowles, junior safety/nickel TJ Metcalf and graduate defensive tackles Damon Payne and Tre Williams. Beckham Sunderland, who handled kickoff duties, also made his Michigan debut.

• Graduate EDGE TJ Guy recorded his first-career interception in the game, the first turnover of the season and one of three turnovers recorded Saturday in addition to Hillman and Sullivan picks. Both came in the fourth quarter.

• Three players recorded their first career sacks in Sullivan, Bowles and sophomore EDGE Dominic Nichols.

• Senior kicker Dominic Zvada made two field goals on Saturday night from 21 yards and 39 yards out, respectively.