The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542067
10 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2026 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Michigan wing Nimari Burnett has be- come one of the leaders on a U-M team that's captured the nation by storm, domi- nating competition on the way to a No. 1 ranking in the coaches' poll Dec. 8. Burnett discusses his own play and his team's hot start in this Q&A. The Wolverine: You guys are off to an incredible start [as of Dec. 10]. How do you improve upon being No. 1? Nimari Burnett: "There are always areas you can improve on. There's no perfect out- come or performance. At the same time, it was kind of a perfect performance and out- come when we were in Vegas [winning three games in the Players Era Championship by an average of 36.6 points]. It's taking those small things and areas to improve on, so we can get ready for the rest of the season. "We know it's still early. Not only can other teams get better, but so can we." The Wolverine: Is it personal to you to have this kind of success as one of the hold- overs from the 8-24 team two years ago? Burnett: "Most definitely. Every cham- pionship we win, it's like, 'Those who stay become champions.' I take that very, very seriously. Me and the guys — Will [Tschetter], Roddy [Gayle], the guys that were here before last year — put in a ton of work in this program. "Having the right mindset to come out there and play to win every single night, to actually do this at a high level when competition is the highest, it's a great feeling." The Wolverine: What is it that's made this team so successful in the early going? Burnett: "The talent, the skill, the size, the athleticism … I think we have a great com- bination of guys on both ends of the floor. And we're still learning how to complement each other and play with each other at a high level. Giving each other space, helping each other when we need that … especially with the big lineup out there, learning how to play around those guys. "Then, inevitably, when we go small, be- ing able to adapt on the fly is very impor- tant to us." The Wolverine: What's it been like play- ing with point guard Elliot Cadeau, and how have you guys bonded? Burnett: "It's been fun. It's easy to adapt to someone who's a good passer, can get 10-plus assists any single game. He just plays with that type of speed and mental- ity. He's been super fun to play with. Even when we were in practice in July and Au- gust … 'How did he see me?' and I've got the ball in my hands and a wide-open shot. "To see that translate to now is a huge part of why we're so successful on of- fense. He is very, very fun to play with." The Wolverine: How do you stay grounded when you're having so much great success early in the season? Burnett: "We handle that success by knowing what's at stake in the long run. We've still got tons of things to play for — Big Ten champion- ship, national championship. We feel like we have the group to do this. Though it feels good to have that early success, we feel even more motivated and confident to beat teams, whoever we step out against." — Chris Balas ❱ Sitting Down With Basketball Grad Student Guard Nimari Burnett Burnett has started every game for Michigan — 79 straight and counting as of Dec. 13 — since his arrival for the 2023-24 season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Who had the most talent in the Big Ten this year? So often, talent in college sports is defined by recruit- ing stars and transfer portal rank- ings. But how did those individuals actually perform within a season? That's what we take a look at here, though there's no perfect method for measuring talent. Following the release of the Big Ten football postseason honors, we assigned a point value to each selection — three points for first team, two for second team and one for third team — and did not take into account honorable mentions. For example, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin gave the Buckeyes six points because he was a first-team honoree by both the coaches (three points) and media (three). Michigan senior edge Derrick Moore, mean- while, netted the Maize and Blue five points due to his standing as first team by the coaches (three points) and second team by the media (two). Big Ten runner-up Ohio State checked in first with 74 points, fol- lowed closely behind by champion Indiana with 69. There was a steep drop-off after those two, with Or- egon being next up at 41, Iowa after that with 34 and Michigan at 23. No other team got to the 20-point mark, with USC being the next closest at 19. Ohio State had both the best of- fense (35 points) and defense (36) in this study, while Indiana was second with 27 on offense and 30 on defense. — Clayton Sayfie ALL-BIG TEN FOOTBALL HONORS BREAKDOWN Team Offense Defense Special Teams Total Ohio State 35 36 3 74 Indiana 27 30 12 69 Oregon 18 21 2 41 Iowa 17 10 7 34 Michigan 6 15 2 23 USC 12 6 1 19 Penn State 11 3 1 15 Maryland 0 4 9 13 Illinois 7 5 0 12 Nebraska 6 0 4 10 Minnesota 0 8 1 9 Rutgers 8 0 0 8 Northwestern 3 5 0 8 Michigan State 1 0 6 7 Purdue 0 1 3 4 Wisconsin 3 1 0 4 Washington 2 0 0 2 UCLA 0 0 0 0