Tag: Brooks Bahr

2026 Season Countdown: #86-90

#86. Max Alford – LB – Park City (UT) Park City: Alford is a 6’1″, 230 lb. fifth year senior and the nephew of running backs coach Tony Alford. After spending three seasons at Utah State, he then transferred to BYU in 2025, making 21 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 sack for the Cougars. He does have five career starts, making him a more experienced player than most in the linebacker room, but watching some film of him makes me think he will be a step or two too slow to play for the Wolverines. I think his biggest role will be as a mentor to younger players as they learn defensive coordinator Jay Hill’s defense, since Hill was BYU’s defensive coordinator.

#87. Jacob Washington – WR – Marrero (LA) Archbishop Shaw: Washington is a 6’3″, 197 lb. redshirt freshman after playing in just two games in 2025. High school teammate Jasper Parker spent one season in Ann Arbor before going back down south to play for Arkansas this fall, and Washington looks to be pretty solidly mired as a backup for the 2026 season behind several players. From the buzz coming out of practice, it appears that freshman Travis Johnson has passed up Washington on the depth chart, too. There will probably not be a ton of playing time available for Washington this fall unless there are some injury problems.

#88. Luke Hamilton – OG – Avon (OH) Avon: Hamilton is a 6’5″, 319 lb. redshirt sophomore now. After two years on campus, his only game appearance has been in the 63-3 blowout of Central Michigan in 2025. Word coming out of practices has been that Michigan has about eight different guys who could start this fall, but Hamilton hasn’t really been mentioned much by insiders and appears to be on the outside looking in when it comes to getting meaningful playing time this fall. If he spends a third year at Michigan barely getting on the field, things will be looking pretty bleak for his future in Ann Arbor.

#89. Daniel Taraboi – OT – Cedarburg (WI) Cedarburg: Taraboi is a 6’7″, 328 lb. fifth year senior who is a former walk-on. He has played in one game in each of his seasons on the roster. His best chance to play may be on the extra point/field goal protection unit, but Michigan has enough depth that Taraboi probably won’t get on the field much as the coaching staff tries to develop younger players for action in 2027.

#90. Brooks Bahr – OG – Lake Forest (IL) Loyola: Wow, Bahr’s career has gone by quickly. As I began typing up this post, I was still thinking of Bahr as a redshirt sophomore, but he’s actually going into his fourth year on campus. After starting his career as a defensive end, he moved to the offensive side of the ball a year ago and is now listed as a 6’5″, 312 lb. offensive lineman. He does not appear to be much of a factor in the discussion for playing time this fall, and somewhat like Taraboi, he may be most likely to play on a special teams protection unit.

2025 Season Countdown: #96-100

100. OL Brooks Bahr (RS So.): Bahr is now listed at a respectable 6’5″ and 319 pounds, but over two seasons at Michigan, he has yet to see the field. He came in as an oversized defensive end and switched to offensive line last year, so he’s bound to take some time to adjust to that side of the ball. With some highly touted freshmen coming in, a couple transfers, and the other returning players, it’s unlikely that Bahr will play a role in 2025 unless he’s part of the field goal protection unit. Last year’s rank: #81.

99. DT Ted Hammond (RS Fr.): Hammond, much like Bahr, came in as a jumbo defensive end who looked like a tweener on the defensive line. That’s still the case now that he’s listed at 6’5″ and 282 pounds, because he’s not athletic enough to play an edge role but he’s probably still too light to play on the interior. He probably needs another year or two of development, along with some of the older defensive tackles to depart. Last year’s rank: #106.

98. S Jordan Young (Fr.): Young (4-star, #4 ATH, #120 overall) was a late recruiting win for Michigan as the Wolverines flipped him from Clemson. He could potentially play nickel even though he was ranked as a safety, but it’s tough for a freshman defensive back to come in and play early with the complicated defense that Wink Martindale runs. He’s probably a few spots down on the depth chart going into the season.

97. LS Evan Boutorwick (RS Jr.): Boutorwick has spent three seasons in Ann Arbor and has yet to see the field. The obvious mitigating factor is that he has had William Wagner and Greg Tarr ahead of him, both of whom have been good players. Boutorwick threw his name in the transfer portal this off-season, perhaps in anticipation of potential roster limits, which did not come to pass. I have not seen news that he is actually transferring, but Michigan brought in transfer Dan Rosenberg, who has starting experience at Holy Cross, and Tarr also returns as the likely starter. Last year’s rank: #63.

96. QB Davis Warren (RS Sr.): It might be surprising to see Warren ranked all the way down here at #96, since he was the starter for most of the 2024 season. However, he tore his ACL in the bowl game against Alabama, and Michigan probably has at least two quarterbacks this season who are better than him in freshman Bryce Underwood and incoming transfer Mikey Keene. Warren’s season was underwhelming from a statistical standpoint (134/209, 64.1% completions, 1199 yards, 7 TD, 9 INT), but he did beat Michigan State, Ohio State, and Alabama as a starting quarterback. I would expect him to drop to at least #3 on the depth chart even if he returns to some semblance of playable health. Last year’s rank: #29.

2024 Season Countdown: #81 Brooks Bahr

Name: Brooks Bahr
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 298 lbs.
High school: Lake Forest (IL) Loyola
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #51
Last year: I ranked Bahr #120 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: 71

After being coached by former Illinois and NFL linebacker John Holecek in high school, Bahr was one of those tweener freshmen in 2023, the kind of player who comes in tall and somewhat thin (if 280 can be considered thin) and doesn’t really have a place. Does he lose weight and play defensive end? Or does he add weight to become a defensive tackle? Either direction was going to take some time, so Bahr redshirted.

Now it’s 2024, and we see which direction Michigan has Bahr going: defensive tackle-ward. He’s up to 298 pounds this season, which is defensive tackle-adjacent, but it’s probably not where he needs to be to get on the field. At 6’5″ that’s not a ton of bulk. Add in the technique work he needed coming out of high school, and he probably still needs another year in the oven before he’s really ready for prime time. Bahr might start getting some snaps in certain situations, but I don’t think we’re going to see him on the field much in 2024.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2023 Season Countdown: #120 Brooks Bahr

Name: Brooks Bahr
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 280 lbs.
High school: Lake Forest (IL) Loyola
Position: Defensive end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Bahr was a senior in high school (LINK). He made 49 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks.
TTB Rating: 71

Bahr committed to Michigan over a year ago, back in March of 2022. A tall and relatively lanky defensive lineman, he seems to be headed for somewhere along the defensive line. Whether Michigan decides to use him on the edge like Mike Morris or as more of an interior guy might depend on how his body progresses. Usually, it seems like guys with his body type usually end up hanging out between the 290-300 lb. range. Morris was an odd fit at stand-up defensive end at 292-295 pounds, and Julius Welschof could barely get on the field except on special teams – and Bahr doesn’t have that kind of athleticism.

So I expect to see Bahr redshirt this season as Michigan figures out what to do with him and as Bahr’s body figures out how it wants to grow. He also has some technical things to figure out, as he played lacrosse and basketball in addition to football.

Prediction: Redshirt

Class of 2023 Senior Highlights: DE Brooks Bahr

Wilmette (IL) Loyola Academy defensive end Brooks Bahr is a 6’6″, 270-pound signee who’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #71 defensive lineman, and #669 overall.