Babin attended Paw Paw High School and lettered in football, wrestling, and track.

In football, he
was a two-time team Defensive MVP, and was an All-Kalamazoo Valley Association first team
choice as a senior. In wrestling, he was the state champion as a senior. Babin came back from a
broken leg during his senior year, playing in the last three games and earning a scholarship from
Western Michigan University. In track & field, Babin was a state-qualifier in the throwing events,
with top-throws of 16.15 meters (52 ft 9 in) in the shot put and 47.85 meters (156 ft 4 in) in the
discus throw.[1]

College career
Babin attended Western Michigan University, where he played for the Western Michigan
Broncos football team from 2000 to 2003. He finished his college football career with 38 sacks,
299 tackles, eight forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. Babin started 25 of 47 games at
Western Michigan, setting Broncos career marks in sacks (38) and tackles for loss (75). Babin
also had two passes defended, blocked three punts and had three receptions for 55 yards.

Babin started all 12 games at the left defensive end position as a senior, earning first-team All-
America honors from The NFL Draft Report and College Sports Report and added second-team
honors from Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, and College Football News. He was a first-
team All-Mid-American Conference selection and league's Defensive Player of the Year for the
second consecutive season, in addition to being team captain and team MVP. As a senior, he
made 115 tackles and matched his career-high with 15 sacks and made 33 tackles behind the line
of scrimmage. As a junior, he started all 12 games and made 94 tackles (26 for loss), 15 sacks,
two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and two passes defensed. Babin also blocked two punts
and caught three passes for 35 yards. He made 56 tackles (13 for loss) as a sophomore, plus a
team-leading seven sacks and two forced fumbles. As a freshman, Babin played in all 12 games,
collected 34 tackles and was the only true freshman on the team to earn a letter.