The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MARCH 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 71 BY CLAYTON SAYFIE W ith the Seattle Seahawks winning Super Bowl LX over the New England Patriots, 29-13 in Santa Clara, Calif., four former Michigan Wolverines football players are world champions — tight end AJ Barner, defensive end Mike Morris, offensive lineman Olu Olu- watimi and running back Zach Char- bonnet, who began his college career at U-M (2019-20) and spent his final two seasons at UCLA (2021-22). This marks the 12th straight season in which at least one former Michigan player won the Super Bowl. Another former Wolverine — offen- sive lineman Michael Onwenu, the Pa- triots' starting right guard — was on the losing end. Former Michigan coaches had their fingerprints all over the 60th edition of the Super Bowl. Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald was the Wolverines' defen- sive coordinator in 2021, before serv- ing in the same capacity with the Balti- more Ravens from 2022-23 and winning a world title in his second season in charge of the Seahawks. At 38 years old, Macdonald is the third-youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl, behind Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams, 36) and Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers, 36). Macdonald is also the first head coach to win a Super Bowl as the team's pri- mary defensive play-caller. "It really is about our staff filling in all those other areas that lets you do both jobs," Macdonald said, deflecting credit. "I think we've gotten to a point on defense where it's like, I'm saying the words on Sundays, but we know what we're going to call, we know why we're going to call it. They've helped build it. They've handled all the details throughout the week that let me do head-coaching stuff." His special teams coordinator, Jay Harbaugh, was also in the limelight, and his unit performed admirably. The Seahawks held New England's danger- ous punt returner, Marcus Jones, who had 3 return touchdowns on the season, to 2 attempts for 4 yards. Kicker Jason Myers scored 17 points — a Super Bowl record at his position — making all 5 of his field goal tries and knocking home 2 extra points. Punter Michael Dick- son also pinned the Patriots inside their own 20-yard line on 3 of 7 attempts and had a 55-yard long. Harbaugh was an assistant at Michigan from 2015-23, under his father, head coach Jim Har- baugh, who's now the head man with the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers and was in attendance. Former Michigan linebackers coach Chris Partridge is the outside lineback- ers coach with the Seahawks, and he helped the team generate consistent pressure on quarterback Drake Maye (43.4 percent of dropbacks, per PFF). Patriots running backs coach Tony Dews, meanwhile, was the wide receiv- ers coach and punt team coordinator at Michigan from 2008-10. Barner, a 6-foot-6, 251-pound tight end, scored the game's first touchdown, putting Seattle up 19-0 with 13:24 re- maining in the fourth quarter. He was one of the few effective Seahawks of- fensively, along with running back Ken- neth Walker III, who earned game MVP honors. Barner hauled in 4 receptions for 54 yards and 1 touchdown on 4 tar- gets. Barner, who began his college ca- reer at Indiana, was the team's second- leading receiver, behind only wideout Cooper Kupp (6 catches, 61 yards). "It's everything," Barner told TSN on what being a Super Bowl champ means to him. "I just feel like the journey's the best part, though. To be here tonight and execute our goals and do it with my brothers and my coaches, it's just super special." Barner had a slow start to the playoffs as a receiver but stayed the course. "I was just waiting on my opportu- nity all playoffs," he said. "It was just a matter of time, and when it came, I was ready." Starting all 17 games for the No. 1 seed, Barner hauled in 52 catches for 519 yards and 6 touchdowns on 68 targets in the regular season. He was second on the team in receptions and touchdown catches and third in both targets and receiving yards. The 2022 Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year, Morris logged 3 defensive snaps in the Super Bowl on a Seattle de- fense that stole the show. The Seahawks held New England to 6.9 yards per pass, a 63 percent completion rate, recorded 6 sacks, notched a fumble recovery and picked off Maye twice. Morris was also in on 25 special teams plays. Oluwatami was in on 3 offensive snaps for a Seattle offense that strug- gled but did enough to get into field goal range and then score two fourth-quar- ter touchdowns. He spent the majority of the season as a reserve but started four games. Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL in the 41-6 divisional round victory over the San Francisco 49ers and was inac- tive for the NFC championship game and Super Bowl wins. However, he was a big piece of the offense all season, re- ❱ MICHIGAN IN THE PROS Mike Macdonald, AJ Barner Among Former Wolverines To Win Super Bowl LX Barner, who played on U-M's CFP National Championship team two years ago, fin- ished with 4 receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown in Super Bowl LX in the Seattle Seahawks' 29-13 victor y against the New England Patriots on Feb. 8. PHOTO COURTESY SEATTLE SEAHAWKS