Mike Sainristil 'being a person for others,' taking them under his wing

One of the stories of the offseason was fifth-year senior Mike Sainristil's ability and willingness to take younger, inexperienced defensive backs under his wing and raise them up. UMass transfer Josh Wallace and true sophomore safety Keon Sabb in particular have both mentioned that Sainristil has taken time to lead them in the right direction.

Sainristil, a converted wide receiver, is only in his second year as a defensive back, but those who don't know any better wouldn't notice a difference.

The Everett, Massachusetts native spent the first three years of his Michigan career on the offensive side of the ball playing wide receiver.

Following a surprisingly successful 2021 campaign that saw the Wolverines win their first Big Ten Championship in 17 years and finish 12-2, Sainristil made the switch to nickel back, where he replaced first-round draft choice Dax Hill.

Now in his second year as the team's starting nickel back, Sainristil, a two-time captain, is not only playing at an elite level, but he's leading others at one, too.

Sainristil said on Tuesday he's focused on "being a person for others."

"I know I'm gonna make sure that my responsibility is taken care of, and now it's about, 'Okay I know what I'm doing, how can I take what I'm doing and help other guys and bring other guys to understand it as well as I do?'"

The 22-year-old certainly has made sure that his responsibility is taken care of in the first two weeks. Among all defenders on the team, Sainristil is the only player to play 30 snaps and record a PFF grade of better than 70 in both games.

Sainristil credits his ability to learn things quickly as the driving force behind what has led him to help others.

"I've just always been that way," Sainristil said. "I'll say that I've been blessed with being able to apply things and things coming to me pretty easy. I still am learning more and more about our playbook, but based off what I did last year, when I came in, when I switched over to defense, I'd say it came pretty quick to understanding the whole concept of what it is that we do on defense."

Once Sainristil figures everything out on his end, he immediately starts giving advice to the younger guys.

"Guys ask me, 'How'd you do that? How'd you learn it so quick?' Part of it is because I'm older. I don't have enough time to be wasting to not knowing the playbook. I want to play, I want to get out there. I want to go to the NFL, of course, so I put myself in a position where I have to learn."

"And then I tell guys, like, 'The second half of the battle is wanting to do it. Like you have to be able to want to learn. If you're not open to learning new concepts, not open to taking the coaching, it's never going to be easy for you... come in, get extra meeting time. Stay, get extra meeting time after practice when you know you're tired. It's a part of the game. It's your job. It's your responsibility to learn.'"

The fifth-year senior is a firm believer that hearing leadership from players — not just coaches — helps give a little perspective.

"Coach is always going to be coach, but I feel like the second a player tells you, it kind of changes your perspective, because you're actually hearing it from someone who is going through what you're going through at the time...definitely when a teammate tells you something, that perspective is needed as well."

Sainristil will depart from the program following the 2023 season, but his leadership of guys like Keon Sabb, Will Johnson, Zeke Berry and others will leave an impression on the Michigan football program for years to come.

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