ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Mike Sainristil is in an interesting spot in 2022. After having spent three years as a receiver, the senior will be splitting time, also playing on the defensive side of the ball. In fact, he may wholly be committed there — we won’t know for sure until the season arrives.
His being able to move to the defensive backs room is a product of the team having that luxury. While there were question marks heading into spring ball earlier in the year about who would start at corner, with DJ Turner and Gemon Green both stepping it up, Sainristil has become a part of the rotation rather than some kind of stopgap. What’s more, the receiver unit is loaded, with not only every wideout from last year (but one) returning, but it’s added three talented freshmen to the roster in Darrius Clemons, Tyler Morris, and Amorion Walker.
Sainristil can see several young players who could be of the instant impact variety, led by elder statesmen who are eager to repeat last year’s success rather than be satisfied with previous winnings.
“Definitely a lot of grit on this team. A lot of young guys have some stuff to them that this team is going to need,” Sainristil said. “And no one on this team right now is focusing on or banking on what we did last season. Everybody understands that this is a new team, we don’t have those same guys we had last year. And even like as an individual, nobody is the same person they were last year. So, as guys continue stepping into different leadership roles everyone’s just focusing on making sure that this upcoming team is the best team it could possibly be.”
When Big Ten Network came to Ann Arbor last week, they said that Michigan football appeared to be much further along than it was at this time last year. But what does that look like?
Sainristil details the various reasons, including the younger players, as well as the overall drive of this current team as being the key components pushing the maize and blue in fall camp.
“I would say sharpness in practice,” Sainristil said. “Young guys going from bridge (the freshman academic program), coming to practice, understanding when they had their split time in practice, maize practice and blue practices, it’s helped them tremendously, I would say. Guys are just very focused right now and just everyone understands that we want to make it further than we did last year.
“So just everything that plays into that mindset is was helping us get to where we are right now. But we just know that we have a lot more to go.”
Though Sainristil looks like he could primarily be a defensive player in 2022, as a solely offensive (and special teams) player for the rest of his career, he has some thoughts on the current state of the offense.
Having arrived in 2019, he spent his entire time working with Josh Gattis, who oversaw both the offense and the wide receivers. Though he likes the moves that the Wolverines made upon Gattis’ untimely departure this winter, he still says that there are some elements that have to be worked out, considering neither Sherrone Moore or Matt Weiss — the co-offensive coordinators — have held the job before.
Regardless, he does like what he’s been seeing as he goes up against the offense in camp, noting several position groups that have been excelling thus far.
“I wouldn’t say they’ve picked up where they left off simply, because Coach Gattis is gone,” Sainristil said. “We have a new OC — not new OC in the sense of it’s somebody completely new, but for the first time, we have someone else calling plays. So everyone’s just been trusting what Coach Moore has going on, and Coach Weiss, and they’re doing a good job understanding the old concepts as well as the new concepts.
“And the offense looks really sharp right now. Cade and J.J. are doing a great job with the receivers, the running backs look really good. Olu, who just came in as a center, is doing really great. Right now the whole O-line looks really good. So I’m just excited for what we have to bring this year.”
Michigan will open up the 2022 season on Sept. 3 when it hosts Colorado State.
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