Michigan Football: Eamonn Dennis will be 2020’s Mike Sainristil

Mike Sainristil was one of the most exciting Michigan football players during spring practice and 2020 recruit Eamonn Dennis reminds of him.

Following the 2018 season, everyone knew that Michigan football was going to be loaded with talent at the wide receiver position. Only now, with the addiiton of guys like Mike Sainristil, Giles Jackson and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, the group will be even better.

Michigan football grabbed a nice haul of wide receivers in 2019, landing a pair of four-stars in Jackson and Cornelius Johnson, as well as a three-star athlete in Sainristil, who could play corner or wide receiver.

It was nothing compared to the 2017 recruiting class, which saw the Wolverines get three of the top 23 wide receivers and four in the top 200. That haul, led by Donovan Peoples-Jones, Tarik Black and Nico Collins has set up the Wolverines beautifully this season at wide receiver.

Peoples-Jones and Collins both had breakout seasons in 2019 and Black has proven to be an impact player when healthy. Yet, there has been something missing with the Wolverines offense. It has been too old-school and way too conservative in the passing game. (Except for this dagger to the heart of Michigan State.)

The hire of Gattis is changing all that. He’s running an offense that doesn’t include a huddle and generally has four wideouts on the field. That opened a need for a different kind of player or players that could function in the slot. Speed in space is the mantra for Gattis after all.

Sainristil fit the bill during the spring and in the open practices, he turned heads. When Michigan football trots out its top four wide receivers this fall, he should be among them. Jackson and Ronnie Bell will also be in the mix but looking even farther down the road, the Mike Sainristil of the 2020 class could be in Ann Arbor next weekend for a visit and his name is Eamonn Dennis.

Steve Lorenz of 247 sports reported his visit date of June 21 and said the Wolverines were “trending” with the three-star athlete from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. In that aspect, he’s right as Dennis has received four crystal ball projections to the Wolverines in the last week.

Don Brown who is known for his ties to Massachusetts and the Northeast should help seal the deal. The fact that Syracuse and Duke are the other contenders also helps Michigan football, which might just get a commitment on that June 21 visit.

Getting Dennis to commit might not make the splash that A.J. Henning would, however, Sainristil wasn’t a big name when he committed either and now Michigan football fans are probably more excited about him than any other freshman on offense.

Dennis isn’t a superstar recruit but he doesn’t have to be. He’s a dynamic athlete (34th nationally) and is tailor-made to play in Gattis system, which emphasizes speed in space.