Makari Paige focusing on keeping Michigan among nation’s elite
Michigan safety Makari Paige glances at the crowd before a play during the third quarter of the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa Saturday December 2, 2023 at Lucas Oil Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
INDIANAPOLIS — Although the Wolverines have several missing pieces from last season’s National Championship squad, their veteran safety believes the dynasty is far from over.
After all, Michigan has won three-straight Big Ten Titles, along with three consecutive Playoff appearances, and finished undefeated last season. Makari Paige has contributed a lot to the program’s success, with 103 tackles over the past three years, and he expects the Wolverines to reload.
Paige and his teammates are rallying behind Coach Sherrone Moore, knowing that he’s keeping the standard alive and well.
“He (Moore) is the face of Michigan now, a guy who loves his players, a guy who loves football, and will do whatever for his players,” Paige said. “Genuine love as well, so he’s a guy that’s all about the team, and we’re going to follow him.”
The roster still has a lot of talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and Paige will be the enforcer of the secondary with Mike Sainristil now in the NFL. Paige is a versatile defensive back because of his length, and he uses his six-foot-four, 208-pound frame to stuff the run, and break up passes out in coverage.
Will Johnson also returns to the secondary, and he’s arguably the best ball hawk in the nation. Last season Michigan finished second in the FBS against the pass, and with Paige and Johnson lurking back there again, the opposition should expect the same numbers.
The defense will be operating under Wink Martindale this time around, who brings a ton of NFL experience to Ann Arbor. Paige feels Martindale’s impact on the players is noteworthy, and the best is yet to come.
“He’s a great addition to our team, I’m glad we got him,” he said. “All I can say is he has some fire to him, and he brings the fire.”
Paige just wants Martindale to help him reach his potential. The Michigan native is a natural at bringing down ball carriers, excels in man-t0-man coverage, and takes pride in having a high football IQ. Michigan’s secondary has no ceiling in Paige’s mind, and they plan on picking up where they left off with the start of fall camp.
Ohio State and Oregon continue to receiver a lot of love approaching the season. However, the Wolverines were picked to finish third in last week’s Preseason Big Ten Media Poll. Paige isn’t focusing on the outside noise. Instead he knows what Michigan has in its’ locker room, which is something special that the world will find out sooner than later.
“We really don’t care about the rankings in the preseason because you gotta play football everyday, at the end of the season preseason rankings won’t matter at all, and that’s not what we talk about,” the 22-year old said. “I don’t know where we were ranked in the preseason last year, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter because we won.”
The road to the Big Ten Championship Game still runs through Ann Arbor, and Michigan has Washington, USC, Oregon and Ohio State on the slate. The Wolverines will have huge targets on their backs again, but that’s the norm for the winningest program in the history of the sport.
Despite losing 13 players to the NFL Draft, Michigan still has a plethora of leaders like Paige that are pushing the line on the youngsters, and they expect to represent the brand with honor this fall.
“We got a lot of players, we got a lot of guys that people don’t know about that have talent, and I feel like our culture is different than any other school as well, our culture breeds success.”
