Throughout the offseason we keep tabs on where the various scouts and coaches are attending pro days to get an idea of the level of interest in certain prospects. Michigan’s Pro Day this year had a heavy Steelers presence with head coach Mike Tomlin, GM Omar Khan, OC Arthur Smith, and DC Teryl Austin in attendance. We can now add former Steelers CB Ike Taylor to that list, and according to him, the main player he was there to watch was CB Mike Sainristil.
On a recent episode of Bleav In Steelers with Mark Bergin, Taylor discussed the pro days that he visited and some of the players at each event he was there to scout. We already had him marked at Alabama, LSU, and Miami, but we had not spotted him at Michigan. He talked about Sanristil at length in the podcast.
“He everything advertised,” Taylor said. “And the craziest thing about it is, all them dogs who coming out for the draft, they said he was the alpha…Not [J.J.] McCarthy, not the running back. Who the alpha? Mike [Sainristil]. For the whole team, what he say go…So he all dog.”
That is high praise from a team that decisively won the national championship in an undefeated 15-0 season in 2023. The Wolverines have nearly 20 players who have draftable grades this year, and of all those talents, Sainristil is the name that kept coming up, per Taylor.
“It just made sense, for you to go from receiver to corner, then he went star corner. Star corner is inside corner. He can play outside as well,” Taylor said. “Pretty much he can play anywhere in that secondary, but he’s probably best fit from that star corner.”
Over the last two seasons, Sainristil lined up in the slot on 985 snaps, out wide for 178 snaps, and in the box for 150 snaps. He was able to move all around Michigan’s secondary and held up well at all positions.
He logged 108 total tackles, 70 solo tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, seven interceptions, 13 passes defensed, two defensive touchdowns, and two forced fumbles in just two seasons of seeing the field on defense.
Sainristil was scheduled to be at the Senior Bowl but did not end up attending. At the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, he measured in at 5093, 182 pounds with 30 7/8-inch arms. He ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash and had a 40-inch vertical jump paired with a 10’11” broad jump. He also showed elite change of direction and short-area burst with his 4.01-second short shuttle—one of the top marks for cornerbacks who participated.
“It’s hard to play that star,” Taylor said of what Sainristil was asked to do at Michigan. “With that star, with that alpha, with that him—them good feet, them good hips, ball skills coming up in big moments when you need that play, that’s Mike.”
Taylor also said he has had his eyes on Sainristil since last year, thinking he might declare for the draft in 2023. He ended up returning with his sights set on winning a national championship, and that is exactly what he did.
The Steelers have had a revolving door at slot corner ever since Mike Hilton left the team following the 2020 season. The position has been trending up in usage and importance for quite a while. According to Taylor and based on the number of important Steelers figures present at Michigan Pro Day, Sainristil could very well be in play in the second or third round where he is projected to go.
Check out our in-depth scouting report on Sainristil below.
