Nimari Burnett is currently averaging 20 minutes per game at Michigan during the 2025-26 college basketball season. However, his Venmo transaction history raises questions about whether he should be on the court in the first place.
He allegedly paid at least two different people for “homework.”
I would imagine Burnett will take a similar approach to Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer if this scandal reaches the point that it must be addressed. The sixth-year senior might choose to stay silent on the matter because he will exhaust his eligibility at the end of this college basketball season anyway.
Who is Nimari Burnett?
As a four-star prospect in the recruiting Class of 2020, Burnett held offers from more than 20 programs out of the Prolific Prep basketball academy in California. He ultimately committed to Texas Tech.
However, the eighth-ranked combo guard spent only one year with the Red Raiders.
Nimari Burnett transferred to Alabama in 2022 and then to Michigan in 2023. This is his fourth year with the Wolverines. He will not have any eligibility remaining. The NCAA granted every winter athlete with a blanket waiver in 2020-21 and he missed an entire season due to an injury. That allowed him to play six years.
The 6-foot-5 sixth-year senior is currently averaging 8.7 points on 46.8% shooting, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 19.8 minutes per game for Michigan. His numbers (and his role) took a slight hit in 2025-26 compared to the last two years but he is still an important contributor on the third-ranked team in college hoops.
He really makes his mark from beyond the arc as a three-point shooter.
Noticed this last night… Michigan’s Nimari Burnett has been working on his no-dip 3, and it’s a thing of beauty.
— Vince Wolfram (@vincewolfram15) January 21, 2026
Catches at eye level, no drop for momentum, straight up and knocks it down. WAY harder than it looks.
42.4% 3PT shooting in Big 10 play (14th in B10). pic.twitter.com/XeROSRzfvT
The Wolverines would not be the same team without Burnett. If not as a player, then as a leader.
Venmo transactions for “homework” raise questions.
A Michigan State burner account by the name of “@msutrustees” allegedly discovered three suspicious transactions on Venmo. Nimari Burnett was at Alabama at the time the transactions were posted.
- Dec. 1, 2021: Nimari Burnett paid Benny Zielke for “Homework🙏”
- Aug. 15, 2022: Nimari Burnett paid Amanda Branson for “🙏”
- Mar. 27, 2023: Nirmari Burnett paid Benny Zielke for “Homework🙏”
What does it mean? I don’t know. Neither he nor Michigan released a statement. Burnett has since changed his account to private on Venmo so I cannot dig any further.
People often use silly captions on Venmo that are not related to the actual transaction. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer blamed his suspicious payments for “Gambling” on an inside joke and got away with it. I would imagine that Burnett would do the same. Plausible deniability is the way to go.
That does not make it any less curious that Burnett used “homework” as a caption, twice, with the same person on the other end of the transaction. Did Benny Zielke do his homework for money at Alabama? The world will likely never find out the truth.