Making Mike Sainristil: The unsung hero of Michigan football’s resurgence

PASADENA, Calif. — Now that three years have passed and his time is almost up at this level, he’s finally ready to talk about it.

It’s not something Michigan football star defensive back Mike Sainristil likes to discuss, but to this day he believes it to be one of the defining moments of his life.

The year was 2020 and as summer turned to fall in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, the entire world — including Big Ten football — had fallen out of whack. It was not yet clear when or even if the Wolverines would have a season; when they were finally permitted to do so, the team gathered for practices, workouts, and organized activities.

Everyone was there.

Well, almost everyone.

“No one knows this story, but during COVID, it was a little tough for me,” Sainristil told the Free Press earlier this fall. “I’d have conversations with my mom, like ‘I don’t know if this is working out, I don’t know if I want to stay or not’ and she’d tell me it was OK, 'don’t give up.'

“I think practices were ‘optional’, but as you know, optional was not optional. So I missed a practice, coach (Jim Harbaugh) called me and we talked and he was like, ‘Mike, that’s not who you are; doing things like missing practices isn’t going to get you to where you want to be.’”

Anybody who knows Sainristil knows how truly out of character that day was. After all, this is the same Sainristil who started work when he was 14 years old and never cashed a single check.

After football practice at Everett High School, in a suburb about six miles north of Boston, Sainristil would ride his bike to his job — at Chuck E. Cheese — and work 3-4 hours. Every two weeks, he received a check with his name on it, but instead of keeping the money for himself, he’d hand it to his mom, Raymonde.

Not hard to see why his brother, Raymond, and sister, Aisha, call him a “mother’s boy.”

“I’ve never one day had Mike talk back to me,” Raymonde said while laughing on the phone. “You ask him to do something, he’s going to do it. He never said no — to nobody.”

It’s that disposition that helped Sainristil understand Harbaugh’s greater plan when he approached the rising senior following the 2021 season and told him he should move to defense.

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Some might’ve seen it as a slight. After all, Sainristil was one of just four U-M pass catchers in 2021 with at least 300 receiving yards and multiple touchdowns, winning the team’s offensive skill player of the year award that season.

That didn’t stop the narratives about how he got “pushed out” of the receivers room — yes, he was well aware of naysayers on social media.

“I saw all the things like, ‘It’s the better thing for Sainristil,’ and I’m like, ‘What are we talking about, I was making plays in that receiver room,' ” he said. “But for me, I thought about it from the standpoint of ‘This is a huge opportunity to prove people wrong, prove coach right and prove (yourself) right.' ”

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That’s exactly what’s happened. Sainristil became an All-Big Ten honorable mention defensive back in 2022; this year, he has emerged as one of the nation's best defensive backs.

Dubbed a “Michigan legend” last year by Harbaugh, Sainristil’s also a two-time captain, an All-American and one of the fastest rising DB prospects on NFL draft boards.

But more importantly, he has been a trusted leader, as responsible as anybody for unbeaten and top-ranked Michigan's matchup with No. 4 Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl on Monday.

"They just don't come any better than Mike Sainritil," Harbaugh said this week. "Playmaker, difference-maker; I bet if you checked the NFL draft, he is rising to the highs, you know, first-round type of guy, All-American.

"Just a great guy, down to earth, great guy, and heck of a football player.”

Haitian roots

Sainristil has been through five years of strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert’s program in Ann Arbor and even though he’s shredded now, physicality will never be the prime aspect of the 5-foot-10, 182-pound defensive back.

Instead, the two-time captain relies on what has always worked for him: instinct, athletic ability, and most importantly, toughness. He comes by them all naturally, with that last one passed through his Haitian roots.

Actually, Sainristil might never have made it to Ann Arbor if not for a political uprising in Haiti.

Sainristil’s father, Carlot, worked at a Port-au-Prince radio station in the 1990s, hosting a show on politics. That was all well and good until a switch in the country’s leadership put more eyes were on him, and not in a positive way.

He had to go into hiding for a month at the French embassy before the entire family fled to America due to political persecution. They ultimately relocated to Massachusetts, not far from where Sainristil's uncle had moved some years prior.

It was there, when Sainristil was in second grade, that he and his older brother Raymond approached their mother with a request: “Can we please play football?”

Their parents didn’t know much about the game, but they did know it was violent, and at the time, that was all they needed to know to turn them down.

“In my culture once they say no,” Sainristil started, “that’s pretty much the end of it.”

Mike tried again the next year. This time, though, he had a plan: He would have his cousin (who was older and already allowed to play) try and convince them. Sure enough, that fall, Sainristil was on a Pop Warner team.

He never looked back.

His parents still remember the day they knew he’d be special. His other cousin, Marvince, who was two years older, was going to miss a game with pneumonia, so the coach told Sainristil to be ready.

“The first play, they throw the ball to Mike,” his dad said. “He goes for a touchdown, 90 yards.”

Sainristil smiled when he thought back to that play, but he said that wasn’t when he knew football was going to be his future.

The day it flipped in his mind? The afternoon he turned 11 years old, in 2010. It seemed the end of just another standout game, with multiple touchdowns, when he was given a final serenade.

“I remember on my last touchdown or whatever, my mom got everyone to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me on the sideline,” Sainristil recalled. “That was one of those moments where I’m like, ‘I really love what I’m doing right now. I love this game, a lot.' ”

The recruiting flip

By the time he was a senior, Sainristil had become a three-star prospect, one of the top 500 recruits in the nation.

In 2017, Sainristil’s team won the national championship in Florida, and he scored a team-best 32 touchdowns. That caught the eye of one person in particular: A Michigan quarterback commit from Reno, Nevada, named Cade McNamara.

“I actually don’t know how he got my number,” Sainristil said. “But he told me if I came, we would do special things. ... So, yeah, glad he did.”

At the time, Sainristil had verbally committed to Virginia Tech. Sainristil said he had great relationships with Galen Scott and the Hokies' coaching staff, but he thinks he jumped into his pledge to the Hokies too quickly.

After an initial message from McNamara — he told Sainristil the two would “win a Big Ten championship” together — the QB added Sainristil to a group chat called the "Goon Squad" featuring U-M’s 2019 commits.

Sainristil opened his mind up to other possibilities. His parents still remember the commitment from Harbaugh: How he “promised” they wouldn’t regret their decision. Sainristil remembers how the group chat welcomed him quickly.

Less than two years into their time in Ann Arbor, the duo clicked in Big Ten action. When McNamara appeared in relief of Joe Milton at Rutgers in 2020, he threw Sainristil his first touchdown. The duo then connected the next week against Wisconsin. A year later, they were celebrating a Big Ten title.

“I appreciate Mikey and I know the rest of us do,” McNamara said back in 2021. “He’s a great dude. Other than just being an awesome football player, he’s a really positive energy in the locker room."

‘Mike has the skill set, the instincts’

Sainristil was originally recruited by then-defensive coordinator Don Brown, though the staff believed he could play either side of the ball. Sainristil ultimately opted for receiver.

But when nickel back Dax Hill declared for the NFL draft in 2021, Harbaugh saw a significant hole at a critical positio. He approached defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale with an idea.

“I’m telling ya, I feel like Mike has the skill set, the instincts,” Clinkscale recalled earlier this season of Harbaugh’s message. “He’ll be a really good nickel for you guys.”

Sainristil proved a natural; he delivered the Wolverines' first sack of the 2022 season, in Week 1 vs. Colorado State.

It set the tone for a breakout year: 14 games with 11 starts and 58 tackles (including 6½ for loss), two sacks, an interception and eight pass breakups. One of those breakups came on a would-be touchdown pass to Ohio State’s Cade Stover, earning Sainristil the title of ‘legend’ from Harbaugh.

Sainristil weighed his NFL options, received the feedback he was not one of the top three nickels available and decided to bet on himself and return to Michigan.

"Dax was a first-round pick and that’s ultimately one reason I wanted to come back: I wanted to have my name in those conversations, wanted to be viewed as one of the top guys in the country," he said. "More importantly it was about this team, I wanted to stick this thing out, I wanted to win."

He’ll be reaping the benefits in come April 2024, when the draft comes to Detroit. Sainristil was not only first-team All-Big Ten this season but named an All-American by three outlets.

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Sainristil recorded 30 tackles (16 solo), had a team-high five interceptions and returned two of them for touchdowns, as well as two forced fumbles, two sacks and six passes defended.

“The 'Michigan legend' thing is real for Mike,” said defensive coordinator Jesse Minter in early December. “There's not many more better than him.”

One of Sainristil’s greatest strengths is his ability to move all over the field. This year alone, he played slot (314 snaps), corner (135 snaps), in the box (78 snaps), along the line (19 snaps), and back at free safety (five snaps).

That has helped Sainristil as a coach on the field. Clinkscale called him an "influencer," in terms of his ability to change the mindset of the team because of how easy he is to talk to.

"If I was a player and I wasn't Mike," Clinkscale said, "I would be right there next to him."

"I know I'm gonna make sure that my responsibility is taken care of,” Sainristil said back in September. “Now it's about, 'Okay I know what I'm doing, how can I take what I'm doing and help other guys and bring other guys to understand it as well as I do?’"

‘The best leader I’ve ever been around’

Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore was lying in bed earlier this week when he got a text message from a player, offering a new play design.

It didn’t come from anybody on his side of the ball, though

“12:30 at night … I got a play from Mikey the other day,” Moore laughed. “I'm like, 'Mikey, you're still on defense, bro. Now you want an offensive package?’”

It’s perhaps as on-brand as anything for Sainristil, who has only wanted to help for his whole life. His mother still tells the story of sending him with money to the elementary school book fair, only for him to return home with items for everyone else in the house instead.

Earlier this month, in a media scrum, a reporter was struggling to hold a microphone in front of Sainristil’s face: “Do you want me to hold this for you?” he offered.

“I don’t know, it’s because it’s not about me at the end of the day,” he explained of his mentality. “Whatever I can do to make someone else’s day better, I want to do that.”

His teammates can attest to that. He still takes credit for leading the recruitment of edge rusher Josaiah Stewart (a transfer from Coastal Carolina), while quarterback J.J. McCarthy called him the "best leader" he's ever been around.

In his position group, soft-spoken UMass transfer Josh Wallace said it was Sainristil who went out of his way to take him under his wing in Ann Arbor, while sophomore Keon Sabb used the same phrase to explain how Sainristil is somebody everybody naturally gravitates toward.

“When he comes in a room, there’s kind of a different feel,” Sabb said. “Especially when we get any player-led anything, time where the coaches aren’t there — Mike just calls the group up.”

No moment expressed this better than his receipt of the 2023 Big Ten title game's defensive MVP award; he lifted it above his head while saying, "This MVP trophy is not for me, man, this is for the whole team."

His days as U-M's leader are numbered. Monday brings the Rose Bowl — not only the biggest game in his life but arguably in the past 25 years for the college football's winningest program. Not long ago, he could think of nothing bigger than this stage, the national championship, or perhaps the NFL draftdraft.

That changed in December: Sainristil and his girlfriend, Seliana Carvalho, announced they were pregnant with a baby girl. From belly rubs to creating a baby registry, Sainrstil has jumped in head-first; "There's no measure," he said, to express his excitement.

Sainristil can play violin, piano and drums and was a member of the Boston Missionary Baptist Church choir, but he hasn't played his unborn daughter any music yet; mostly he just talks to her.

Sainristil is about to embark on the biggest journey of his life, as the defining chapter of his life is coming to an end. It's an emotional crossroads, but one he leaves with a legacy he only dreamed of, with a chance for more.

"Personally for myself, I wanted to be a guy when freshmen come in, 'I want to be like Mike Sainristil,' or little kids, 'I want to be like Mike Sainristil,'" he said. "That mindset of coming back for a fifth year was 'Let's put everything into this last season, everything into winning the national championship.'"

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mike Sainristil: The unsung hero of Michigan football’s resurgence