'He has a very high ceiling': Veteran Michigan player is high on budding star

Michigan football returns its top two tackles from last season: LBs Ernest Hausmann and Jaishawn Barham. With both of them returning, the Wolverines won't need to worry about replacing their production, but Michigan knows if an injury would occur -- it will be just fine. That's because the Wolverines have plenty of depth at LB.

Between landing Georgia transfer Troy Bowles and landing two LBs from the portal -- Nate Owusu-Boateng and Chase Taylor -- the Wolverines have depth behind their top four linebackers. Speaking to reporters at Big Ten Media Days, Hausmann was asked about the depth behind him and Barham.

Jimmy Rolder enters year four, and while he has been a career backup, Rolder has played a lot of football. In fact, both Sherrone Moore and Hausmann consider him as a third starter.

"Yeah, I'll first start with Jimmy (Rolder). You know, he's someone that we look at, he's looked at as a starter last year," Hausmann said. "He's a great, highly skilled set. He's very smart. He's very versatile. You know, he knows both positions. We can trust him to go in there, know any position and play at a very high level. And, you know, he's done a really good job of staying locked in no matter what. And that's what I respect about Jimmy. He never complains. He's never said "I want more playing time. I want this." He's just, 'let me know when I'm in, let me know my (position), and I'm going to execute my job." And I really appreciate that about Jimmy."

But Rolder isn't the only LB Michigan can rely on. Sophomore Cole Sullivan is another, and coach Moore has been on record giving glowing remarks on the rising LB. And Hausmann backed up those remarks when mentioning Sullivan. He said the Pittsburgh native has a very high ceiling.

"Cole -- he is someone that has a very high ceiling," said Hausmann. "I saw it from day one when he first put the pads on. And this has been really cool to see him grow. And for myself, you know, if I can do anything to help him, because he's very high ceiling, he's going to do very great things for his career here at Michigan and the future. Same thing as Jimmy. And so if there's anything I can do to really help him expedite that process, you know, for myself, using my experience of playing as a freshman and helping him so that his second year now, he can have that big, that big growth, because I know he can do that. He's putting so much work in, and I'm very excited to see him because his skill set, his size, and his length is very, very dangerous for offenses. So just making sure that he really knows how to maximize that, I'm very excited for him."

Michigan fans will get a chance to watch the group in action on August 30 when the Wolverines open the season with New Mexico.

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