Michigan football: How Mike Sainristil went from catching passes from Cade McNamara to picking him off in practice

Mike Sainristil has caught countless passes from Michigan redshirt sophomore quarterback Cade McNamara. The two players were in the same recruiting class and have great chemistry on the field. Both were huge parts of last year’s offense — McNamara the starting signal-caller and Sainristil the team’s fourth-leading receiver with 21 catches, 305 yards and two touchdowns.

This catch was different, though. Sainristil hauled it in and ran towards McNamara, passed him and went all the way to the end zone to take a picture with his teammates.

It was an interception for Michigan’s reliable slot receiver turned nickelback, the first McNamara had thrown in team drills all spring. Sainristil was lined up over sophomore slot A.J. Henning, who ran a 10-yard route, sat on his hip and waited for McNamara to make his decision.

“I saw he looked at A.J., and I was like, alright, ball’s probably coming this way — it came and I just picked it off, jumped the route,” Sainristil explained.

“It was great; it felt good. Not to take anything away from Cade, but it just felt good — playing DB now, seeing that, in the short of time I’ve been playing it, I’m making strides in that area. It was good.

“Cade’s a competitor, I’m a competitor. I know how he is, so after practice I got under his skin a little bit, joking around with him. But that’s what it is.”

RELATED

• Cade McNamara: I’m a Big Ten championship winning starting quarterback

• Wolverine TV: Cade McNamara, Mazi Smith, Mike Sainristil talk Michigan spring ball, more

Sainristil was recruited to Michigan by former defensive coordinator Don Brown as a defensive back but chose receiver when he entered the program in 2019. His switch back to the defensive side — where he also starred in high school — began with a mid-February phone call from head coach Jim Harbaugh.

“He brought up the idea of potentially playing some defense,” Sainristil said of the conversation. “I said, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever for this team.’ If you put me at center, I’ll play center. That’s how it went.”

Harbaugh said Sainristil’s skill set is suited to play the position, and Michigan has a need after Daxton Hill departed early for the NFL Draft. He’ll still play offense, too, and said he switched back and forth during Michigan’s fifth practice of the spring Thursday.

“Coach Harbaugh has been saying that the more tools you have in your box, the more valuable you become,” Sainristil said. “I definitely like that; that’s one thing I tell myself every day.”

A Unique Perspective

Despite spending three college seasons at Michigan as a receiver, he knows a lot about defensive back play at this level. It’s a prerequisite for the position, and it gives him a unique perspective now that he’s on the defensive side.

“Just being able to tell what type of technique receivers are in,” Sainristil said of what benefits his situation has afforded him. “If I’m in press, seeing what type of releases they want to take, understanding their splits, knowing, if I was at receiver what I would want to do against a press technique or a zone technique.”

He said he believes it’s much easier to switch from offense to defense.

“Because once you learn the whole offensive concept, going to defense, you understand, OK, when they line up in these tight formations, when they line up in the spread, and down and distance, you know what to expect,” Sainristil explained.

Sainristil has watched film of Michigan’s defense to try to understand the whole offense, and that he already had great relationships with the defensive assistant coaches, making the transition as seamless as it could be.

“Before even coming to defense, I had relationships with defensive coaches,” he explained. “Last year when [former Michigan defensive coordinator] Coach [Mike] Macdonald was here, I was always telling him, whenever you need me, let me know. Same thing with [co-defensive coordinator] Coach [Steve] Clink[scale] — I was always joking around with him about that. Now, I have the opportunity to be in their offices, one-on-one, and being in the defensive meetings and stuff, so I’ll say we have good relationships.

On his own, he’s also studying Hill and other NFL defensive backs to pull from their games.

“Definitely looking at last year’s defense, and just watching that position itself — whether it’s Dax, guys similar to my body type in the NFL.”