Braiden McGregor instantly became Shaun Nua’s top recruiting priority when he took the Michigan job, and it’s literally easy to see why; I saw McGregor before last weekend’s game and he stood a head taller (at least) than everyone else in the crowd around us. He is very tall and very built and, after a whirlwind spring tour that saw him visit a bunch of bluebloods down south and a seemingly endless flirtation with Notre Dame, very much a Michigan commit.

McGregor might be the player I wrote about the most when I was handling recruiting roundups this spring, so getting a full game of McGregor film feels a little like Indiana Jones swiping the golden idol at the beginning of Raiders. Is it everything we wanted? Will the giant boulder of BPONE mercilessly flatten us?

Much like Indy’s experience, this film was not obtained without trouble. David had to reroute before the game; we almost ended up with Port Huron film, not Port Huron Northern. He made it just in time to snap some pregame photos of McGregor, then handed the memory card over willingly to me. No dropping of a whip that could have saved David’s life, no Belloq situation, just a quick transfer from memory card to hard drive that resulted in every-snap film on defense, offense, and special teams. The last time I scouted a guy like that he ended up acquitting himself to the position faster than expected and is now a high-ceiling starter…

[Hit THE JUMP for every-snap film and scouting]

Braiden McGregor Every-Snap Film

Defense (plus a couple ST snaps oops)

Offense and Special Teams (for fun, but also to showcase athleticism)

Scouting

[00:00] Blocks don’t matter and tackling can be done with one hand.

[00:46] Same.

[00:55] It’s not easy to stop as quickly as he does to avoid the late hit penalty, so that’s a plus. Plus there’s something to be said for his on-the-fly processing here considering the position he’s playing is “use your height to peer over everyone and go destroy the person with the ball.”

[1:30] Best play on the tape so far and he doesn’t even get to the RB in the backfield. I think an argument could be made that he would have if he had been in a three-point stance on the line, but the important part here is the speed he shows combined with the realization that he’s not going to get there and instead needs to get downfield and cut off the run.

[2:05] Gets sealed outside by a guard. Looks like he thinks the back is going to continue outside but then the RB puts his foot in the ground as both guards gets to McGregor.

[2:20] That’s more like it. First snap with his hand in the dirt and he shoves aside the extra OL and assists on the TFL. Kind of looks like he does the push-pull maneuver because one second he’s engaged with the extra OL and the next the guy’s thrown aside.

[2:44] McGregor hits the gap quickly but gets downblocked by the extra OL. gets two hands on McGregor and he only gets one on the blocker and loses as the opponent gets a hand under McGregor’s pads.

[2:52] McGregor gets off-balance here because he’s expecting the extra OL across from him to block, and when he instead pulls McGregor is left having to figure out what to do in a split second. He makes a good choice, shuffling and directing his attention to the mesh point. Then he sees the ball going away from him and sorta just absorbs the block from the RB and hangs on instead of pursuing.

[3:08] Pretty incredible that this ball gets handed off because McGregor is shot out of a cannon on the snap.

[3:16] After watching this a few times it seems like he’s running with the block and intentionally staying on the outside of the block to spill to help inside. Then the help misses the tackle and we get to the part of the play where you can ding McGregor a bit, which is his lack of pursuit.

[3:31] Good gap integrity, not good missed TFL opportunity. Shows some speed in pursuit.

[3:40] I don’t have a problem with this snap. He reads what’s straight ahead in his gap, slapping away the block attempt and getting in position to tackle the would-be ball carrier. Effort, again, after the runner gets out and downfield, but no issues with how he plays things near the line of scrimmage.

[4:00] He stands to shuffle quickly thanks to their running attack, so we aren’t seeing him really get off the ball here. It’s clear from this clip, though, that he’s strong and physical. And frustrated.

[4:25] So one way to prevent a defensive end from pursuing to the edge is to grab their collar and play possum. Penalty schmenalty; who doesn’t love seeing young people innovate?

[5:06] McGregor does a nice job with his hands here to go over the OL’s arms and keep one hand free. He also loses zero speed after what is ostensibly the block is initiated, so its a nice illustration of his strength.

[5:26] A run finally goes outside. This goes poorly for the offense. McGregor tosses the FB-like substance behind and forces the RB out on the sideline. Again, he’s obviously faster than most DEs his size and his grip strength seems above average.

[5:35] If this is spilling to help then #5 makes the wrong move. Honestly not sure if it’s that or if McGregor thinks it’s going outside and realizes too late that it went through his gap.

[5:47] Another show of strength with the one-armed toss-away of the puller.

[5:54] McGregor has quick feet and he chops them to throw off the tackle. He then goes into a swim move but he’s a step or so too far away to really hit and turn the tackle and get that inside arm over the top. He gets hung up on the tackle for a second but bends the rush up just enough to almost get the QB’s arm. Of note more than the bend is his insane wingspan.

[6:14] He’s holding the edge and then he gets held and so he holds the opponent right into the turf. He has the nasty streak offensive line coaches talk about.

[6:25] Nice use of the feet and hands here as he stutter-steps the first block, then rips through the second block en route to a leaping attempt at batting the ball down.

[7:15] Again, he’s holding his edge. He also runs into the QB and accidentally almost rips his head off, but then the QB is like “hey, it’s cool, bruh” because he knows that at every party from now until they stop having class reunions he can be like, “Hey Greg, Greg, listen, you remember that time I almost had my head ripped off by a top-100 recruit and I bounced right up? Yeah, that guy that went to Michigan, remember that?” 

[7:25] He’s really fast off the ball when he can pin his ears back in a clear pass-rushing situation. Technique will need some clean up but I can see him beating guys consistently at the next level when he gets his hands and footwork in sync.

[7:48] So here’s an example of his rush when it’s not a clear pass-rush situation: there isn’t one, because he’s being responsible and holding the edge. Once he sees the QB turn with the ball, though, it’s all over for the poor guard. Bull rush gets a two-for-one.

Summary

I project McGregor to Anchor at Michigan because of his size and strength. He’s a true 6’5” and is listed around 250 pounds, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him add 20-30 pounds over the course of his time at Michigan without losing any burst. You know who else has added 10 pounds a year and gone from 260 to 280 over his college career? Aidan Hutchinson, a player I think is a good comparison for McGregor.

McGregor showed good burst off the ball in pass-rushing situations as well as good speed to the sideline on outside runs. He’s tremendously strong for a high school defensive lineman and has the kind of nasty streak that’s usually discussed when scouting offensive linemen. At this level he’s able to overpower opponents.

Though he showed that he does have at least a rip, push-pull, and swim move, he’ll need to work on syncing those with his footwork in college. His footwork seemed good to me—there were a few times he chopped and got the opposing lineman off balance—but it didn’t always put him in position to then use his hands to finish taking advantage of what he created with his feet. Coachable stuff, that is.

There were times in this game where he pursued to the ball and showed a great motor and other times where he watched a play go away from him. I don’t think motor will be an issue in college as this didn’t appear to be a conditioning issue; if he goes after the ball carrier instead of punishing the guy attempting to block him, then problem solved. Some runs got inside him as well; after reviewing them, it looks like he was attempting to prevent anything outside and spilling to help which was sometimes there and sometimes wasn’t. In short, the intangibles for a good strong-side end are all there, and the issues apparent in this game seem correctable. I would expect him to get his four games next season, redshirt while he works on syncing speed and strength, and start to really contribute at Anchor in 2021.