Michigan football: ‘A lot of grit on this team’
Michigan opens the season with Colorado State in Ann Arbor Sept. 3. Head coach Jim Harbaugh has seen enough to believe he’ll have another great team this year, but we won’t know for a while whether it’s championship material.
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One thing is certain, Michigan senior cornerback/wide receiver Mike Sainristil said this week — this team is going to come to compete. He’s witnessed it on both sides of the ball and is ready to do his part, too.
“There’s definitely a lot of grit on this team. A lot of young guys have some stuff to them that this team is going to need,” Sainristil said. “And no one on this team right now is focusing on — or banking on — what we did last season. Everybody understands that this is a new team; we don’t have those same guys we had last year.
“Even as an individual, nobody is the same person they were last year. So, as guys continue stepping into different leadership roles, everyone’s just focusing on making sure that this upcoming team is the best team it could possibly be.”
They’re sharper than they were at the same time last year, Sainristil noted, including the freshmen. This class is talented like last year’s, and it’s hit the ground running after getting acclimated to the summer academics.
Players are focused on repeating as Big Ten champs, but they want to advance further in the playoffs this year. To do that, he said, they have a lot more to accomplish.
On offense, he sees a group that’s developing its own identity.
“I wouldn’t say they’ve picked up where they left off, simply because Coach [Josh] Gattis is gone,” Sainristil said of the former Michigan offensive coordinator, now at Miami. “We have a new OC — not new OC in the sense of it’s somebody completely new, but for the first time, we have someone else calling plays. Everyone’s just been trusting what Coach [Sherrone] Moore has going on, and Coach [Matt] Weiss. They’re doing a good job understanding the old concepts as well as the new concepts.
“The offense looks really sharp right now. [Senior quarterback] Cade [McNamara] and [sophomore] J.J. [McCarthy] are doing a great job with the receivers, and the running backs look really good. Olu [Oluwatimi], who just came in as a center, is doing really great. Right now, the whole O-line looks really good. I’m just excited for what we have to bring this year.”
As for the quarterbacks, Sainristil is as intrigued as anyone to see how that battle plays out.
“I would say it’s still neck and neck,” Sainristil said of the Michigan quarterback battle. “You probably won’t see a starter the first game, and you probably won’t see one the second game. You might not see one until game six. That’s how much they’re competing right now. We’ll see. Even I’m not sure.”
McNamara is expected to take the first snaps vs. CSU, but both quarterbacks are playing well.
