Mike Sainristil leads Michigan defense to second-half thwarting of Ohio State
Columbus, Ohio — Mike Sainristil used to make receptions. Now he prevents them.
No matter how many games the Michigan senior defensive back has left in his football career, he’ll find it difficult to match the stakes of the two passes he defended in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 45-23 win over Ohio State at Ohio Stadium.
On back-to-back drives, Sainristil broke up throws in the end zone. The first came on a third-and-4 from the Michigan 9-yard line where he batted the ball out of Ohio State tight end Cade Stover's hands and forced the Buckeyes to try a field goal while down 11. It was the least he could do after failing to stop a touchdown in the first quarter, he said.
“They were in 12 personnel. I had a tight end and he started the play blocking, so the first thing I thought was, ‘All right, if he’s blocking, I need to find the next thing coming out,’” Sainristil said. “He released late and the only thing running through my head at that time was just don’t give up another touchdown, go straight to the ball and get it out any way you can.”
His second PBU came against receiver Emeka Egbuka when Ohio State was frantically pushing for the end zone while facing an 18-point deficit. While it didn’t end the drive, Taylor Upshaw picked off Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud two plays later to seal the win.
“Mikey’s been an incredible player for us. Offensively, always a penchant for making the big play, do anything, block, just like all our receivers,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said.
“Mike was certainly that guy. Then asked Mikey if he would consider going over to defense. Figured it was gonna be tough to replace Dax Hill and just felt Mikey had the skill set for it. He was smart enough to be able to do that and play both ways. He was willing to and then he was just so good at it, right off the bat.”
The Buckeyes were without big-play receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who last year against Michigan had a game-high 11 catches for 127 yards. Sainristil said he knew that meant Stroud would look Egbuka’s way whenever Ohio State needed a play.
“We knew that was a guy that they want to get the ball to in certain situations,” Sainristil said. “Coaches did a great job this week preparing me for those situations. There’s a few I gave up, but that’s just the game of football.”
FOX’s Tom Rinaldi reported that as the third quarter came to an end Saturday and each team prepared for the fourth quarter, Sainristil fired up a Michigan sideline that still had ample juice compared to Ohio State, saying, “They are who we thought they were.”
Sainristil’s play on defense this season may have been a revelation, but his leadership hasn’t.
“He’s got that dawg in him,” linebacker Michael Barrett said, interrupting Harbaugh’s description of Sainristil’s best attributes.
Harbaugh concurred: “Dawg? Disciplined Athlete With Grit. He does have that ‘dawg’ in him, no doubt about it.”
Mulling over the pass
By the time the third quarter was nearing its end, Michigan had so much confidence in its passing game that it put the ball in a linebacker’s hands on third-and-1 at the Ohio State 38 — and almost scored a touchdown.
Junior Kalel Mullings took the handoff from quarterback J.J. McCarthy, powered toward the line, then pulled up and threw it over the top to Luke Schoonmaker for a 15-yard completion. Michigan finished the drive with a touchdown early in the fourth to go up 31-20, its first two-score lead of the game.
Mullings joined the Wolverines as a running back, then moved to linebacker before getting put in the backfield in a limited role this past offseason.
“That was worked on since last year and we were about to call it in last year’s game, but they put a post safety out there,” Mullings said.
Cornelius Johnson said the play was actually designed by former offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who’s now at Miami. Harbaugh added that it was originally supposed to be running back Blake Corum completing the pass, but with Corum out for all but one or two snaps, Mullings stepped in.
“Very few reps he had, but I mean, what a guy,” Harbaugh said. “And there’s nobody who will do more for the team than Kalel Mullings. Running back, linebacker. And then we brought him back over to running back early in August to really be a big-back force."
As to why he specifically chose Mullings to make that pass, Harbaugh said, “He was throwing the ball better than anybody else.”
Planting the flag
After beating Ohio State for the first time since 2000, the Michigan players took the maize block 'M' flag and planted it in the block 'O' at midfield of the Ohio Stadium field.
“I was thinking about that since January," Sainristil said. "Just coming down here, having an opportunity to win this game at this stadium, first time since 2000. Even last year, the only thing I was thinking about was fans rushing the field. This year I was thinking about planting the flag and just speaking it into existence. Being able to do that feels great."
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @nolanbianchi
achengelis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @chengelis