Jim Harbaugh’s letter of departure to the Wolverines

Before the Big Ten Championship Game, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh sent a “locked in” message to his team.

As Michigan football begins to play in the Big Ten Championship Game, coach Jim Harbaugh is returning to the sidelines after his three game suspension for the sign-stealing scandal. Despite having no Harbaugh, the Wolverines still won their final three regular season games under coach Sherrone Merrone. This clinched a berth in the Big Ten title game, and most likely a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Still, it’s important for the Wolverines to not look past their current opponent in Iowa football, who is 10-2. Ahead of the game, Harbaugh sent his players a message.

“We’re excited to take this ball team out and have a chance to win a championship,” Harbaugh told Jenny Taft. “We have to play good. That’s what we’re most focused on is us playing good football. We can’t turn the ball over against this team, they’re really good at getting the ball from you, they’re really good in the kicking game. We’re gonna have to play really good defense, tackle. The team that does that best is going to win … I couldn’t be more proud [of this team]. Just keep doing you, it’s working. Go out there, give it your very best and play as hard as you can, as fast as you can and as long as you can and don’t worry,” via FOX Sports.

Jim Harbaugh asserts that the NFL value of Michigan defensive backs is increasing.

Mike Sainristil may not appear on any first-round NFL mock draft boards at the moment, but Jim Harbaugh believes the Michigan defensive back’s stock is rising.

Why? He has a reliable source telling him so.

The Michigan coach said he’s heard from his brother, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, each of the last two weeks about the 5-foot-10, 182-pound Sainristil. And John apparently can’t stop raving about him.

“That Mike Sainristil, you tell him that he is a great player and I am so impressed with him,” Harbaugh said, relaying his brother’s message this week on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show. “After this (last) game, that kid is moving up the boards — high.”

Harbaugh, who was suspended for the final three games of the regular season, watched Michigan’s Nov. 18 win over Maryland with his brother. That’s when John first started talking about Sainristil, a defensive back who floats between the inside “nickel” spot and outside corner, suggesting that he is “really moving up the draft projections,” Harbaugh would later tell 97.1 The Ticket’s “Stoney and Jansen” show.

“And they don’t even know what they have past the playing ability,” Jim Harbaugh continued. “The leadership; two-time captain. He is infectious, and I think people are starting to hear some of the stories that he says to the team when he gathers them up. He’s a stalwart — as a player and a leader.”

Sainristil, a former receiver, has blossomed into one of Michigan’s most reliable defensive backs over the last two seasons. After finishing with 58 tackles and seven pass breakups a year ago, including two crucial PBUs in the win over Ohio State, he’s developed into a ballhawk on the back end of the Wolverines’ defense. Not only does he lead Michigan in PBUs this season (5), but he has four interceptions in 12 games — including two in the aforementioned win over Maryland.

“Mike is such a smart, heady player who studies the game, but that doesn’t diminish the skillset he has,” Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “He has elite quickness, elite speed, elite ball skills — and I think his ability to tackle makes him (special). I think somebody’s going to take him and and going to love him as their nickel for a lot of years.

Minter is another notable voice here given his background. A longtime defensive coordinator at the college level, Minter has extensive experience coaching defensive backs and spent four years with the Ravens. Like the Harbaughs, he knows what an NFL-caliber defensive back looks like.

And he, too, believes Sainristil can be that.

“I think he’s turned himself into a really high-end NFL prospect in that regard with his ability to play some safety, some corner, and on special teams,” Minter said.

Sainristil has won the respect of his teammates, too. The fifth-year player has twice been voted captain and transfers and younger players often credit Sainristil with taking them under his wing, showing them the ropes of the Michigan defense and how things are done internally.

Defensive backs coach and co-coordinator Steve Clinkscale has coined the term “influencer” to describe him.

In anticipation of Saturday night’s Big Ten championship game against Iowa (8 p.m., FOX), Sainristil stated this week, “When I was playing receiver, I was trying to be the best version of receiver that I could be.” “Now that I’m a DB, I want to excel at being a DB. I’m content with where I am right now.