Michigan football: Several DBs impressing coordinator Jesse Minter
Jesse Minter arrived at Michigan from Vanderbilt after only a year with the Commodores, excited to make the move. He lost some talent but inherited a lot, too.
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One move in particular has moved the needle.
Michigan receiver Mike Sainristil gave nickel corner a shot this spring, and it’s paid off in a big way. The fourth-year junior has opened eyes through six practices.
“Mikey has been one of my favorite guys to see throughout the first part of spring, just on both sides of the ball,” Minter told Jon Jansen on the recent In the Trenches podcast. “He plays with a level of toughness and maturity. He’s a really good football player. I think he’s a guy you could put anywhere. It shows up on special teams how he plays, shows up on offense and his ability to block and be a role player, but also make plays when he gets the ball in his hands.
“His ability on defense — he has a great grasp of what we’re trying to do. Zone coverages and where the spaces are … on offense, it’s where you can find open space. On defense, it’s how can you close space? And Mikey has a great understanding.
He’s also really sticky in man coverage, Minter added, which is huge for that role.
“I’m super excited about where he’s at as a player, excited to see where it continues to go throughout the rest of spring,”
He’s not the only one impressing. Third-year Michigan sophomore R.J. Moten has also done a “tremendous job” in the early going, having taken his play at safety to the next level.
“He got his feet wet last year — he’s becoming a leader,” Minter said. “He’s becoming a real cerebral thinker.
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“To me, safety is a position I’ve always had my hands on throughout my career. It’s like, ‘can you be a problem solver? So, can you anticipate things? Can you figure out things that are going to happen before they happen? I think R.J. is becoming that type of player.”
At corner, they’ve got some guys “that can really play,” Minter said. D.J. Turner and Gemon Green have played a lot of snaps at Michigan, he noted.
“Then there are some guys that are battling. They’ll earn their stripes as we go throughout the rest of spring,” he said. ”But I think there’s some real potential in some of the younger players.”
One in particular — Michigan five-star frosh Will Johnson.
“When you go somewhere and it’s like hey, there’s this five-star recruit that’s an early enrollee, maybe the top corner in the country — I wasn’t really sure what it would look like,” he said. “But it’s looked really, really good. It’s met my expectations.
“I think most important for a guy like that is what type of mindset does he walk in with? He’s very humble. He asks a lot of questions. He wants to be right, to be really competitive, and … certainly has the tools that allowed him to be that highly recruited guy, that highly ranked guy. I think he’s got a really bright future.”
