Nimari Burnett's 'Michigan man' mindset kept him in Ann Arbor after Juwan Howard's firing

Back in the 2020 recruiting class, guard Nimari Burnett was as good as they get. The Napa (CA) prospect was a top-35 recruit and almost every program wanted Burnett. He chose to begin his career at Texas Tech before transferring to Alabama. He spent two seasons with the Crimson Tide -- one redshirting -- before heading to Michigan.

Burnett has been a consistent player game in and game out for the Wolverines. The 6-foot-5 shooter has right around a 10-point career average in Ann Arbor, while shooting nearly 38% from deep during his time at Michigan.

On a recent podcast on Go Blue Hoops! with former Michigan big man Tim McCormick, Burnett spoke about his time in Ann Arbor and how he got to Michigan. Burnett shared that, growing up, he knew the Howard family very well and when Juwan offered Burnett, it was a no-brainer to come to Michigan.

After Burnett's first season in Ann Arbor, Howard was dismissed from the program and Dusty May took over. Burnett talked about how he stayed loyal to Michigan and wanted to be a Michigan man, despite Howard leaving.

Michigan G Nimari Burnett — Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Yeah, and it's crazy because a lot of people are, especially nowadays with the portal, they just go from one school to the other," Burnett told McCormick. "I've always been the loyal type of person to stay true to the soil, and if it doesn't go great, you figure it out and you make things work and you get better and you grow. I think that is very important in life in general.

"After that first year in Michigan, it was a lot of downs of course with the season and how many games that we lost, but it's a lot of ups and I felt like, not only did I feel like I was in a right place from a basketball standpoint, but just everything around me from the University of Michigan, the connections, the people, the academics. It was like a dream come true and although the season didn't go how I and the team quite wanted it to, I was still proud to be a Michigan man.”

Burnett and McCormick talked about much, much more. Seeing Coach May get upset, his freshmen teammates and how they are doing in Ann Arbor, and the team's mindset after a tough loss to Wisconsin.

You can see the full video between Tim McCormick and Nimari Burnett below on Hail Media!'s YouTube page.

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