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Mike Sainristil on Will Johnson influence, response to OSU 'toughness'

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•09/27/23•

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The Michigan Wolverines are led on the field by two-time captain Mike Sainristil, who has taken to the defensive back position like a fish to water. But sometimes it is easy to forget that he is only in his second season playing on the back end at the college level.

That’s a trait he shares with sophomore cornerback Will Johnson, who is also in his second year in a big role in the Michigan secondary. Johnson was a five-star recruit and a natural at the position, while Sainristil made a transition from the offensive side of the ball.

Their different backgrounds and experiences have rubbed off on each other.

“Will came in as an early enrollee and I switched to defense when he got here,” Sainristil said this week. “We definitely learned the playbook together. But in terms of being the older guy in the program, I’ve definitely had conversations with Will about what it takes to do certain things.

“And I’ve helped lead him in certain areas and helped him grow in certain areas. And the good thing is that someone like myself was also open to learning and everything I’ve learned from Will, he’s helped me learn, he’s helped me become a better leader. Teaching him has allowed me to help teach a lot of different people on our team, that’s important.”

Sainristil and the Michigan defense have started out the year on a high note, allowing 22 points through four games this season. It has been a glimpse into what this defensive unit could be in for the rest of the way.

“I think we’ve learned that we can accomplish a lot,” Sainristil said. “Especially when we’re firing on all cylinders, when everybody’s doing their jobs, we’ve looked really good. The one thing I feel like we need to continue doing is just never letting up. I feel like Saturday we did a good job showing that. We let up a touchdown early. But for the rest of the game, we were on it. We were stopping the run game. We were locking down the pass game. I just feel like when we all played together like that like one unit, we can do with some really special things.”

Michigan will let its play do the talking on the field, but its rival down the road might be a bit boastful coming off its victory over Notre Dame over the weekend. Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day went out of their way to flex about their toughness after one win in the fourth week of the season.

Nobody at Michigan this week has taken the bait on responding to it this week.

“I would just say we’re doing a great job of handling our business,” Sainristil said. “That’s all we can do, just focus on making sure that we’re the best team going into that game. Coach does a great job of preparing us and helping us keep Michigan football and the people in this building the main priority.

“Every week, we can’t wait and want to play that game. That’s The Game for a reason. but you know, the result of that game doesn’t change our feelings of wanting to play them next week, two weeks or at the end of the year. We know regardless on November 25th, we have to face them and all we can do is prepare and show week to week how well or how good of a team we can be leading into that game.”

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