ANN ARBOR – Michigan’s defense received a boost on Saturday with the returns of edge Jaishawn Barham and Jimmy Rolder from injury.
It was a quiet day statistically in the 24-22 victory over Northwestern, at least individually, but the 18th-ranked Wolverines held the Wildcats to 245 yards, including a season-low 61 on the ground.
The return of Barham and Rolder allowed defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to optimize his defense after playing his unit was significantly shorthanded Nov. 1 against Purdue. Rolder and fellow key linebacker Cole Sullivan were both out, which led to Michigan moving Barham back to inside linebacker. However, he exited the game with an injury after just two snaps.
The Wolverines initially moved the 6-foot-3, 243-pound Barham to edge beginning in Week 3, which also opened the door for increased playing time for Rolder. Both have been major contributors this season. Rolder is second on the team with 54 tackles, including 5 ½ for loss and two sacks, while Barham is second in sacks (three) and quarterback pressures (17), per Pro Football Focus.
In Mel Kiper’s latest 2026 NFL Draft Big Board, the ESPN analyst ranks Barham as the No. 10 outside linebacker and Rolder as the 10th-best off-ball linebacker in the draft.
“I think he’s going to have a long career in the NFL, but a lot of it is because of the flexibility,” Martindale said of Barham on Monday night’s “Inside Michigan Football” radio show. “He is a very violent, quick-twitch player who people can see that jumps off the tape at you. Those type of guys are usually the ones that have long careers later on.
“I think he’s been doing a nice job on the edge; I think he’s still learning the edge. But the thing that people don’t talk about is that because he’s done so well on the edge, is the play of Jimmy Rolder. That was another reason why we wanted to move him to the edge, to get Jimmy on the field more. I’m really happy for both of them.”
The play of Rolder and Barham, plus the depth of the linebacker position, has given Martindale more flexibility when it comes to configuring his defense.
“I think that you become creative,” said Martindale, who spent the previous seven seasons as a coordinator in the NFL before joining Sherrone Moore’s staff last year. “They know the defense really well and they can all switch around. You can’t draw a line and say, ‘Here’s where this guy’s going to be. I think that’s part of their effectiveness is how well they know the defense and their opponent as well. It’s opened the door for a lot of guys to have a lot of success.”
Michigan outside linebackers coach Pernell McPhee is an 11-year NFL veteran at the position and has become enamored with Barham’s skill set.
“It just brings a different type of talent to the room,” McPhee said last week. “He’s a very fast, quick, twitchy guy. It was exciting just to see him coming on the edge and having success there too. It just makes our defense more expandable.
“We call Jaishawn Barham ‘Killa’ for a reason, because, I mean, he be trying to kill people. He hit hard. He hit physical. If you put on the film, he’s definitely a violent, violent player.”
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