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'Ready to kill at any moment': Michigan's Jaishawn Barham is 'the man who doesn't smile'

clayton-sayfieby: Clayton Sayfie09/24/25CSayf23
Jaishawn Barham
Michigan Wolverines football linebacker Jaishawn Barham posted 2 sacks against CMU. (Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Former Michigan Wolverines football head strength coach Ben Herbert has a saying, “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t even hear what you’re saying.” While he never coached him at Michigan, senior linebacker Jaishawn Barham epitomizes that.

Barham talks a little trash on the field, but doesn’t meet with the media. He lets his pads to the talking — and they’re speaking loudly. The 6-foot-3, 243-pounder moved from off-ball linebacker to edge rusher two weeks ago and has totaled 4 tackles for loss, including 3 sacks along with 9 pressures during that span, wins over Central Michigan (63-3) and Nebraska (30-27).

“He’s a beast on the field, that’s all I’m going to say,” junior nickel back TJ Metcalf said.

That about sums it up, as do his nicknames. ‘Killa’ is the one defensive coordinator Wink Martindale gave him, for obvious reasons, given his physical stature, imposing demeanor and ferocious play on the field. Associate head coach Biff Poggi gave Barham and freshman quarterback Bryce Underewood Batman masks because they may be superheroes, he said.

“That’s ‘Killa’ right there — the man who doesn’t smile,” Michigan junior offensive lineman Nathan Efobi said. “I’ve gotten him to laugh a couple times, just by me being me. But that’s ‘Killa’ — always serious, always ready to hit somebody, always ready to kill at any moment. Poggi calls him ‘Batman.’ I call him ‘Killa.’ Same dynamic.”

A fun-loving personality, Efobi has been able to make Barham laugh by “just being dumb.”

“I get a little crack of the smile, and it makes me smile, because he doesn’t smile like that,” he explained.

“I don’t know [why he doesn’t smile much]. That’s a question you all have to ask him. That’s why they call him ‘Batman,’ you don’t get to see him. But I don’t know why he doesn’t smile. That’s a good question. I’m going to ask him when we leave here, actually. I’ll let you all know.”

More than anything, Michigan players get a kick — and a lot of satisfaction — out of watching Barham terrorize opponents on Saturdays.

“Him at EDGE is scary,” Efobi said. “I’m so happy the country gets to see how we feel in practice now. With him, he’s a first-round talent at EDGE, first-round talent anywhere. His dip, bend, getting to the backfield, he’s scary — and now the country finally gets to see it.”

The 6-foot-3, 312-pound Efobi has blocked Barham in practice.

“It’s like if you had [former Michigan defensive tackle] Mason Graham but he just cut 100 pounds off of him,” Efobi said. “It’s like trying to block that.

“Jaishawn is like a caveman. I don’t know. The way he’s built, the way he hits —  it’s crazy. I’m happy other people get to feel that pain now.”

Michigan’s defensive line has played at a much higher level with Barham on the edge, highlighted by a 7-sack, 36-pressure performance in the victory over Nebraska.

“You see him out there? It’s fun,” graduate defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny said.

“He’s a game-changer, so it’s just good to have him out there and that we’re using him to his full potential, because there are a lot of things he can do. The best part is not hindering him and holding him back from his full potential.”

Michigan players trust that Martindale is putting them in the right positions — even going to unique lengths like switching Barham’s position to do so — and understand they’ll need versatility at the next level in the NFL.

“Coach Wink likes to show different things,” Benny noted. “However we can optimize the players, however we can best use everybody, that’s what he’s going to do. He has a good feel for whatever players can do with him coming down from the league, so he knows how to switch things up with different packages, because that’s kind of stuff that they do in the NFL. He does a good job of bringing that down to us and helping us learn it.”

Barham is doing a heck of a job in the system, especially on the defensive line, making his teammates, coaches and Michigan fans everywhere smile.