Everything Michigan coach Pernell McPhee said ahead of Northwestern — including ‘violent’ Jaishawn Barham

Michigan outside linebackers coach Pernell McPhee met with the media on Wednesday and he discussed plenty of things. The former Ravens player played under Wink Martindale, and he touched on his relationship there.

Here is everything he said.

Really good. I mean, I’m learning his personality a little different as a coach from when I was a player. But I think he does a great job of adjusting to the college game. Like, he’s real different playing, coaching college football, or seeing how college football is played in the NFL. So I think he does a great job adjusting to the offensive systems, the schemes, the unbalance, all the screens that they run, how wide the hashes is. I think he has done a great job, especially going into this year. So it’s just fun to just see him, watch him, and me. And he helping me grow as a coach.

It’s about the same. Coach always been cool. You know, he walk around with his J’s on. He always been one of them cool coaches that you’ll love to go out and play for, which I always love playing for him. It’s just, you know, I think it’s cool. He been doing a great job with the players, talking to them. He talked to a lot of the guys, like he did when we was in the league. So Coach is one of the most down-to-earth people I ever seen. But once he gets on the other side, he can get on the other side. You just got to keep him, you know, cool and collected.

Definitely great comparison. Like a sizzle, like that sucks. But like he’s mentally grown as learning offense. And just his technique always been there. He always been a technician. You know, he’s a very quiet guy. But he’s also smart at the same time. So I just think – I’d be impressed with how he handles it week from week of just learning the offense, picking up on formations, playing fast, playing at like – treating the game with angles. Like teaching him different angles of the game. Like he actually going out there using it and it’s helping him out a lot. And that’s why I think he’s just been dominating. Like I say, he’s always been one of those physical human beings that just run through people. Because he’s quiet, but he’s also mean. You know, so that’s like a plus.

I mean, in the Edges room, I think we got like four or five starters. Me personally. It just depends on what game plan coach wants to play for the week. Who we playing against. Who match up best against the offensive tackles and things like that. So like, I think TJ Guy’s a starter. I think Cam Brandt’s a starter. Of course, Derrick Moore’s a starter. And if Jaishawn decides – if we decide to put him on the Edge this week or not, he’ll be a starter. And Dom Nichols, you know, I just feel like I got great guys who go throughout the week prepping themselves to go play at any time of the game. Or maybe start.

Oh, I was very excited. You know, it just brings different type of talent to the room. You know, he’s a very fast, quick, twitchy guy. So it was exciting just to see him coming on the Edge and having success there too. So, it just makes our defense more expandable. Like how we can use different guys and put them in different places.

I thank the good grace of God. You know, I was sitting at home one day. I was praying, reading my Bible. And the next day, you know, Coach Wink called me. I was coaching high school football at the time at Pahokee High. And Coach Wink called me and said, hey, you want to come coach at the University of Michigan? And that was like an exciting moment. And that was like – this definitely is where I’m stepping stone to coaching on the next level. So, I just took the – I just took the opportunity and I’m running with it.

Really just keeping guys fresh. It’s a long season. It’s longer than normal. So, just keeping guys fresh instead of letting them play 70 plays a game, 60 plays a game, like let them get it down to 40. And then, like I said, like I think we got like four to five starters in my room. So, especially on the edge. So, it kind of helped them, the younger guys get experience as they got next year to go along for Dom Nichols and like even Cam Brandt. Like he’s an older guy also. So, just giving them the experience and just giving them the opportunity to do whatever they can to help the team win. But, you know, just keeping guys fresh is the main thing. And just keep getting them ready for whatever battle we got to go in.

Oh yeah, to me it’s just about when it’s dealing with Derrick, like just getting him in the rhythm. Derrick is one of the most unselfish players I know. Like we’d be calling some plays for him to make and he’ll put another guy in that position. He’ll tell TJ, no, you go over there, Jaishawn. So, like it’s just keeping him in the rhythm. I think you could put him in and he could play 10 to 12 snaps. He going to make some plays. Like he’s just that type of guy. He’s a really good kid. But, like he knows the game. He plays the game well. He plays it fast and he plays it physical.

Oh, probably Killer, Jaishawn. Yeah, I mean we call Jaishawn Barham, Killer for a reason because, I mean, he be trying to kill people. He hit hard, he hit physical. And I mean, if you put on a film, like he’s definitely a violent, violent player. So, I’d probably say Killer.

Playing discipline starts with preparation and playing violence starts with a mindset. Like you just got to have the mindset when you step on the field, whatever you got, whatever type of stress, anxiety, or pressure you got on you from the outside world, you put that in your mind and you get on that field and you just let it all out. And sometimes that equals up to violence. And just playing discipline is just the preparation of it, like knowing the calls, knowing what the offense is trying to do against you, and just be playing with your eyes and playing what you see.

I don’t think it was hard at all. It was just learning the technique of how we want him to play it. I think he’s a great football player also. It was just like, just get him into the rhythm of how we step on our first and second down steps, how we set the edge. And he picked up real quick. And I think that was a great chess move by Coach Wink, you know, to put him out there on the edge to get offense something different to look at. And it also opened up a lot of things for the other edge guys also.

So, I mean, I call Cam Brandt water boy. You know, like he’s really like that.Like he’s very smart and intelligent, you know, when it comes to classwork and everything. But he’s like water boy to me. He wasn’t number nine. He’s quiet as Derrick, but like he just go out there and just go crazy. And I told, you know, his physicality is like probably one of the best in the room. And he reminds me of me a lot. He’s got a lot of raw talent, but a lot of potential to become a great player. But like it just helping him develop all his skills, keep putting tools in his toolbox to help him become a great player. But I love Cam Brandt. Like he really reminds me of me.

I mean, besides the Steel Curtains, you know, that’s a game. But I’ll say it’s probably in my top two. I can’t dismiss the Steel Curtains. You know, I ain’t lost many games to y’all, but I definitely would put them in my top two, just because I played the game and I always was excited to go out there and play against Pittsburgh Steelers.

But I think I’m just more excited to go out and coach against Ohio State now, especially being in the position that we in right now, knowing what we could go accomplish if we stay focused. And we got probably the best team in the country.Y ou know, I don’t want to look forward, but they’ll be in here two weeks. So I’m just excited about it. You know, they got great players. We got great players. They play violent. We play violent, you know, so I’m just really excited about it.

— Sign up for the Michigan Daily Digest newsletter for more free coverage from Michigan Wolverines on SI —