Name: Michael Barrett
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 224 lbs.
High school: Valdosta (GA) Lowndes
Position: Viper
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #6
Last year: I ranked Barrett #67 and said he would be a backup slot receiver (LINK). He played in two games on special teams and redshirted.
TTB Rating: 82
Coming into the 2018 season, it was anyone’s guess where Barrett would play in college. There was talk that he could be a Wildcat quarterback. There was talk that he would be a running back or a slot receiver or a linebacker. Personally, I pegged him as a slot receiver with the caveat that…I had no idea.
Well, it seems he has settled in at linebacker. The coaching staff has been grooming to take over – or at least be an option – at the Viper position once Khaleke Hudson and Jordan Glasgow graduate. Hudson is the starter and Glasgow can play all three linebacker positions, but Michigan will need to start over in 2020. Whether it’s Barrett, a position-switcher (J’Marick Woods, Brad Hawkins), or a 2019 freshman (Daxton Hill, Joey Velazquez, Quinten Johnson), there will be an opening. Barrett had an interception and a decent return in April’s spring game, and I expect him to get some snaps in 2019 while the coaching staff feels out whether he can take over full-time or not.
Prediction: Backup Viper
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With my own caveat that I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes… and that the the power struggle between the DC and OC for his services occurred before Gattis got here…
I sincerely hope that they are done jacking him around. He is obviously a more than decent athlete, one that I thought was the best RB in his class. Maybe he will end up a killer viper and his career won’t be squandered.
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Harbaugh loves guys moving around. Barrett is still very young but it does feel like somewhat of a make-or-break year for him at viper with all the other options available.
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I thought Michael Barrett was being groomed to be a WR. I know he had talked personally with Anquon Boldin, who also was a QB in high school, and played in a similar way.
I got the impression, when looking into Michael Barrett, that it wasn’t important to him that he play at any particular position, as long as he made it to the NFL. But personally, I wanted to see him carry the ball, whether as a wildcat QB, at RB, or in yards after the catch at WR.
I kinda don’t care now where he plays. But I too, like GKblue, want him to settle in where he has a shot and using his talents to their best, and where he has the best shot at making the NFL, and get to work at that spot.
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