Veteran linebacker Michael Barrett has been part of more wins than any other Wolverine in program history. He has certainly experienced his fair share of ups and downs during his six seasons in Ann Arbor, but a win on Monday night would be the perfect ending to his incredible career.
What Barrett had to say about Monday night’s National Championship game against Washington is as follows: Q. Michael Penix is 24 years old; we are witnessing players who have been playing college football for five, six, or seven years.
Is a 19-year-old being given an unfair advantage by doing that? Michael Barrett: Kind of how I view it, because I’m 24 myself, is that everyone in the league is attempting to get to the same place. Some of the older players in the league are thirty or thirty-five years old. In any case, that’s kind of how things are if that’s how you want to be.
Everybody kind of on their own track, everyone is on their own road, on their own course. Regardless of how you get there, regardless of how that road looks, you’re all on the road to that same spot. Q.Do you feel like that sometimes for you being 24 years old, just given your age and your experience, do you feel like that’s a big advantage over, say, a 19-, 20-year-old? MICHAEL BARRETT: Definitely, definitely.
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I think of that all the time, just kind of the experience I’ve been through, the games I’ve played in. Just mentally just being older, just kind of having that growth I feel like definitely is a little advantage
Q.Have you had time to sit back and think about your journey, coming to Michigan — I don’t know if you had been to Michigan before — MICHAEL BARRETT: Couldn’t even point it out on the map. Q.This is your last game. Just the thought process of your five and a half years? MICHAEL BARRETT: Yeah, it’s crazy, thinking back to where I came from.
Being a quarterback down in South Georgia to being a top linebacker in the Big Ten is crazy. It’s just kind of thinking of just how far I’ve come. Just kind of wherever you are, just knowing my goals, kind of what I had here coming in and kind of just being in a situation to achieve those goals, it’s a blessing. Q.Just your thoughts on the offense (indiscernible). MICHAEL BARRETT: Yeah, definitely. Their offense is explosive.
They have a lot of great athletes, an elite quarterback that can put the ball on the money wherever it needs to be, and just an offensive line that gives him that time. They have like that offense that can score in the blink of an eye. So you have to be locked in every play, every rep, have to be locked in to all your fundamentals and just straining to finish those plays.
