Mike Sainristil leads defensive effort as Big Ten Championship MVP

INDIANAPOLIS — Receiving mementos after games is starting to become a habit for graduate cornerback Mike Sainristil. Two weeks ago against Maryland, when Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended, he watched the game at the home of his brother, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.

Safe to say, John was pretty impressed with Sainristil as he watched the game with Jim. He was “blown away” by his performance, going as far as giving Jim a lion spike to gift to Sainristil — something John gives to a Ravens player who makes the final kill to win a game. It’s a badge of honor at John’s NFL franchise, and those NFL honors are starting to trickle down to Sainristil already.

So much so that Sainristil’s momento after beating Ohio State was a verbal one. John made sure to tell Jim after The Game about how Sainristil is shooting up draft boards — words not to be taken lightly when they’re coming from an NFL head coach.

But Sainristil is still in college after all. While these NFL-themed badges of honor may be nice, especially considering Sainristil’s goals of playing at the next level, a college-level one doesn’t hurt either. And in the No. 2 Michigan football team’s Big Ten Championship win over Iowa, he went ahead and got one of those. As his teammates walked into the tunnel toward the locker room holding confetti, newspaper front pages and new merch, he was cradling a memento just a little bit sweeter — the MVP trophy.

“Just a playmaker. When a play has to be made, when the magic needs to happen, Mike makes

it happen,” Jim Harbaugh said postgame. “It’s been game after game. Especially down the stretch here these final four games, he has been a stalwart. He intercepts. He makes the big hit. He makes the big hit in the fumble, causes a fumble. Just an incredible player.”

That knack for making big plays was evident, especially in one of the game’s signature moments. In a title game that quickly turned into a defense battle, field position became of utmost importance. When Iowa’s Jaziun Patterson caught a pass in the flat, he experienced Sainristil’s big-play magic first hand.

Patterson tried to get low to break an open field tackle attempt, but Sainristil got even lower. Striking him like a missile, the hit forced the ball out, and Michigan pounced on it to flip the field. For a guy collecting mementos over the past few weeks, he handed a couple to his team — a Hawkeye-branded football and the chance to wear turnover buffs in Indy — with one big hit.

And when it all boils down, it isn’t all too complex for Sainristil to do what he does.

“He does it by always being in the right place where he’s supposed to be, playing the right technique at all times, leading other guys to do the exact same thing,” Harbaugh said. “But he also does it as a superior athlete. That combination comes together, superior athlete and a guy that does everything right. It’s fun to watch.”

Fun to watch is the name of the game with Sainristil — even his big plays turn fun because of their potential to have been even bigger ones. Early in the second quarter, he jumped a curl route, getting low to the ground and breaking up the pass. Although the breakup was key and scooping it up would have been difficult, Sainristil wanted more.

Scooping up the then-dead ball, he had nothing but green grass ahead of him. Prancing down the sideline jumping in disgust, he reeled at the yards ahead of him toward the end zone and what could have been.

But maybe that’s the point, even plays he is disappointed in are often positive ones for the team. It’s an MVP-caliber mindset, one that got him an MVP trophy in the conference’s grandest stage. One that he’s always trying to instill in the teammates who look up to him.

“This team is constantly maturing, getting better as men every single day,” Sainristil said. “It’s been a process, but it’s been a very great process, a learning process, learning experience. I don’t think that you could paint a better picture, but the picture also isn’t done being painted.”

After such a big career moment, Sainristil couldn’t help but reminisce on his journey at the most whimsical opportunities. When the discussion surrounded senior running back Blake Corum at the press conference, Sainristil chimed in to say that he hosted Corum as a recruit. Harbaugh then seconded that he hosted Sainristil, and they recalled watching a movie together as part of that process.

It took a second, but Sainristil remembered which movie they watched: “Don’t Breathe.”

In the Big Ten Championship, he had the Hawkeyes holding their breaths in an MVP performance. And now, with another momento in tow, Sainristil has the chance to keep his streak going — performances like his leave plenty of hardware up for grabs come playoff time.