ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan fans anticipated going into the season opener seeing two familiar faces at safety in Rod Moore and Makari Paige. While both dressed, only Paige played, and only a handful of snaps, due to injury. Thus, we got a look at two second-year players: safeties Keon Sabb and Zeke Berry.
Sabb, who found out just a week before he’d be getting his first start in a winged helmet, felt amply prepared for his extended time on the field, thanks to the leadership in Ann Arbor.
“I think it went pretty good,” Sabb said. “The coaches prepared me, the older guys prepared me. So it wasn’t really too much of a hard transition, just looking forward to going out there again, play with the guys again.”
Of course, there’s always how things actually go vs. how they’re expected to go. While Sabb had six tackles and a pass breakup in his season debut, what he noticed to be different the most had nothing to do with the style of play on the field.
“I thought the crowd would be a lot louder!” Sabb said. “And once I got out there, things started moving a lot slower than I thought it was gonna be. So it ended up being fine.”
Ultimately, when it comes to his game, Sabb feels that he’s more capable of handling the duties of playing college football than he did a year ago.
He noted that he wasn’t ready for the spotlight a year ago, and while his name may be called sparingly in 2023, depending on those ahead of him on the depth chart and potential injuries, he’s more than capable now. He credits the leadership on the team for helping him to get to this place where he’s a viable college football player.
“Maturity, just having a full year, and being able to play learn plays, learn, especially learn from older guys,” Sabb said. “They’ve taught me so much — everything they’ve learned from older guys that they had before them. They just taught me and it trickled down.”
So, who helped him get from being a green-eyed freshman to feeling like he’s ready for prime time? In Sabb’s eyes, it takes a village, but one name stood above all the rest, and it’s a familiar one: Mike Sainristil.
The two-time team captain has been noted for taking transfer cornerback Josh Wallace under his wing, but Sabb also says that he was a student of Sainristil’s ranging from on to off-field dealings.
“Rod, Makari, (Quinten Johnson), Caden, and RJ from last year — especially Mike as well,” Sabb said. “Mike took me under his wing over the spring, the summer. I was just trying to be a sponge, be around him because he was one of the guys so I wanted to learn as much as I could from him at all times. How he plays man, how he conducts his business, like his routine through game week. I was really under his wing a lot. And Rod and Makari. It basically just taught they taught me everything, like how to play, to position things, and look for little tips and tricks.”
Fans will potentially see Sabb again on Saturday when Michigan football takes on UNLV for a 3:30 p.m. kick. The game will take place at The Big House and will be broadcast on CBS.