This year, Michigan’s huge Senior Bowl contingent has been reduced to six.
Linebacker Michael Barrett and defensive back Mike Sainristil have withdrawn from this year’s postseason showcase event in Mobile, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy announced on Tuesday.
Barrett and Sainristil, who had previously accepted invitations, were not on the rosters announced Monday, reducing the nation’s finest list of Wolverines from eight to six.
According to Nagy, Sainristil chose to withdraw from this year’s game following the national championship, while Barrett suffered a draft-prep injury in the penultimate week.
“He had an injury that he didn’t have all season,” Nagy remarked during his introductory press conference on Tuesday. “That’s the other half of this – men finish college football and then start training for the combine, which requires a completely other set of muscles; they’re prone to pulls and so on.”That’s what happened with Michael Barrett.”
Nonetheless, six additional Michigan players have reported and are on-site for three days of practice, interviews, and Saturday’s game (1 p.m. ET, NFL Network) – an opportunity to impress NFL executives and boost their standing ahead of the April draft.
Four of them are on the offensive side of the ball, led by Michigan’s top receiver, Roman Wilson. Wilson (48 receptions, 789 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns) was already attracting media interest on Tuesday, answering interview requests and earning praise from Nagy, a Michigan alum and former NFL scout.
“I think Roman’s going to have a huge week,” Nagy told reporters. “He was on pace for a monster year — the first half of the year — right before they kind of took the air out of the ball there at Michigan.”
Wilson is joined on the National team by fellow tight end AJ Barner, a graduate transfer who joined the Wolverines last season, as well as offensive lineman LaDarius Henderson and Trevor Keegan. Nagy stated that both players “put together really good years,” with Keegan at left guard.
“I thought Trevor played his best ball over the last month of the year,” Nagy told reporters. “Clearly better than I had ever seen him play.”
Defensively, Michigan is represented by edge rushers Jaylen Harrell and Braiden McGregor, who Nagy predicts will be “3-4 outside linebacker types” at the next level. The Senior Bowl executive was particularly thrilled by McGregor’s two-sack game against Alabama in the Rose Bowl, which is exactly the type of big-stage performance NFL scouts seek.
“I know he’s looking forward to getting some inside-rush reps (this week),” he said.
Michigan’s six-player bunch leads an NFL draft class that is likely to be in the teens — and, as former head coach Jim Harbaugh predicted, may beat Georgia’s record of 15 in 2022.
Big-name recruits J.J. McCarthy and Blake Corum were eligible for postseason activities such as the Senior Bowl, but chose not to participate. Another high-ceiling talent, offensive lineman Zak Zinter, is still healing from a fractured leg.
The Wolverines are coming off one of their most successful seasons in program history, with an unbeaten 15-0 record, Big Ten championship, and College Football Playoff victory.
“Yeah, I think they’re going to have a chance,” Nagy said about Georgia’s draft record. “But it’s wonderful to beat Alabama—just so I don’t have to hear it in enemy territory.
