Over the weekend Michigan picked up a rather large commitment, figuratively and literally, when Port Huron defensive end Braden McGregor spurned Notre Dame and committed to Michigan. This was always a bit of a foregone conclusion…

"It was always Michigan," McGregor told Brice Marich of 247Sports immediately after his commitment. "Growing up in Michigan, being a Michigan kid; that's who I rooted for when I was younger. And then the people there. It's great academics, great football and the people at Michigan are like my coaches as far as being great guys. Every single one of them; they're all awesome."

…but Greg Mattison's departure opened the door for the Irish. Harbaugh and Shaun Nua slammed it shut again.

Let's play the feud!

GURU RANKINGS

Rivals	ESPN	24/7	Composite
3*, 5.7 rating #27 SDE, #13 MI	4*, #26 overall #2 ATH, #1 MI	4*, #28 overall #3 SDE, #1 MI	4*, #89 overall #4 SDE, #3 MI

A classic in the Rivals Midwest Recruiting Analyst genre. The other two sites would have five stars on McGregor if it was Signing Day; Rivals has McGregor 13th… in Michigan. Will this be a Jalen Mayfield abrupt reversal or the Full Wormley? Only time will tell.

SCOUTING

McGregor is one of those guys who is faster and bigger than everybody he plays against and gets put in vaguely ridiculous situations as a result. He's played safety, wide receiver, linebacker, tight end, and on the line. All of that shows up in his junior highlight film below. In addition to that positional versatility he's also a hockey and basketball player.

But really he's a defensive end, and has always been destined to be one. Allen Trieu praises his "prototypical frame" and asserts he's athletic enough to play WDE while mentioning some technique hangups:

Tall, longer arms, well-muscled, but still with room to grow in college. Is a very good athlete who can run, redirect, and chase plays down in pursuit. Has good closing speed. …athleticism and ability in space. Plays with great motor. Still working on technique. Once he adds more violent hands and some go-to pass rush moves to his arsenal he will be tough to stop.

Those technique issues are inevitable given the way McGregor has been used. When Josh Newkirk took in Port Huron's game against St. Clair Shores last year, McGregor didn't end up playing DE until the fourth quarter, whereupon he did this:

…opponent didn't have the size up front to deal with his first step and relentless motor to the quarterback or running back. He ended up with one sack for his effort, a roughing the passer and a couple hurries in his time at defensive end. Not bad considering he's raw and has never played defensive end till his junior season.

Touch The Banner:

…good size with the ability to pack more weight onto his frame. He has good initial quickness off the ball and solid change-of-direction skills to rush the passer. His closing speed is a positive, and he’s a violent hitter when he arrives. …pass rushing technique (along with his technique at other spots) is pretty rudimentary. He needs to improve his hand placement and his pad level coming off the ball.

So there's a lot of projection here. McGregor's versatility did his rankings a bit of a disservice. But a couple guys had their eyes open. This ND 24/7 evaluation is overheated in parts ("literally could play any one of the seven positions up front defensively") but they nailed it when they said his composite ranking, then 335th, was "a joke" and projected a swift move into the top 100. The reasons why:

…clearly has the mobility and quick-twitch footwork to be a weakside defensive end. His size says strongside; his agility and length say weakside. …feet and change of direction are outstanding. …athletic wide base. …closing speed is top-of-the-line with his athleticism and length.

That surge happened after he showed up to some camps pushing 250 pounds and gave his opposition the business. 24/7 named him the alpha dog of the Cincinnati UA camp:

…nearly impossible to stop coming off the edge at defensive end and he won nearly all of his reps. If that wasn't enough, McGregor was asked to flip over to the offense and play tight end by the Under Armour people and he was outstanding catching the football. The combination of size (6-foot-5.5, 248-pounds), speed, and athleticism was on full display on both sides of the football.

And he wasn't far off that title at his local Opening regional:

…very impressive. He was one of the best athletes in attendance as far as size and twitch to go along with his big frame. He could really get off the ball and redirect, making him a tough matchup for offensive tackles.

He'll participate in the main event in about a month.

[After THE JUMP: the skeptical take]

Rivals's more negative take should be familiar to anyone who's read most of these. Khaleke Hudson is short, Jalen Mayfield is small, and McGregor is still mostly being evaluated as a 6'6" linebacker.

McGregor has always had a frame that should grow into a defensive end, but our early evaluations of him in that role brought up questions regarding his lateral quickness and ability to handle the point of attack. I have heard McGregor has put on significant good weight and looked outstanding at other events this off-season, so we are definitely excited to see his development live and in-person.

And there you go: Rivals only does their own camps, so no data from those transferred over. Then he tripped on a rep at the Rivals camp…

…supremely talented and looks the part for sure but he had a couple of bad reps that he'd like to get back. He fell down one time, ran directly into a massive offensive lineman and didn't really utilize his athleticism when trying to get to the quarterback.

…and there you go. Committable offers from the entire Midwest, Alabama, and Clemson will not dislodge the initial take. The regional analyst doesn't like projecting: 

"… still questions to answer about being able to disengage once offensive linemen get their hands on him. He has not shown great lateral agility, having more success moving north and south."

Again that feels like a critique of Craig Roh playing linebacker than an evaluation of a guy who is obviously a DE. So even the downside here recalls McGregor's massive upside. As Trieu pointed out:

…great athlete …unlike some of those [other camp] guys, McGregor was playing other sports and does not train full-time with football. Once he gets into college and ups his technique, he has a chance to be a high-impact guy because of a rare physical skill set.

McGregor could go plaid.

OFFERS

Most of the country: FSU, LSU, Miami, Alabama, PSU, ND, OSU, and virtually the rest of the Big Ten. FWIW, Alabama offered him as a tight end. Clemson was saying both sides of the ball but leaning TE. McGregor got his offer from the Tide on a visit and that's probably a real one.

As a side note this was an Ultra Loy. Dude put McGregor on a list of "Five best bets to end up at Notre Dame" all of three weeks ago. This caused a spectacular blowback on the Irish boards as fans expecting a big commit got nothing. Naturally this was the kid's fault and not Tom Loy's.

HIGH SCHOOL

Touch The Banner already did this bit:

The only other Michigan player to come from Port Huron Northern is Brad Bates in the late 1970s, who went on to become a Division I athletic director.

I don't have another place to put this so this is where I'll mention he and 2020 hockey commit Jacob Truscott are tight. I'm pretty sure Patrick Guzzo is the other guy who he's referencing when he told MLive that "Two of my best friends are committed to Michigan for hockey."

STATS

99 tackles, 13 TFLs, 8 sacks, and two interceptions(!).

FAKE 40 TIME

He ran a 5.1 at an Opening regional last month, which gets zero fakes.

VIDEO

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

McGregor's 6'6" and already around 250 pounds. His rapid weight gain over the past year and frame means that he's going to hit campus at 260 or even 270. He is headed for anchor unless he's going to be an NFL Hall of Famer.

His rawness should see him either redshirt or chip in sparingly in year one, when Michigan will return Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson. In year two McGregor is likely to be part of an SDE rotation with Hutchinson and then he'll be a fully-weaponized upperclassman. That looks like an excellent situation for the foreseeable future.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

McGregor is the first DE in this class. Last year's class had Gabe Newburg and David Ojabo in it (Mike Morris is also listed as a DE but IIRC he's going to be a DT from day one); Michigan will be searching for at least one more. Michigan has all nine crystal balls for UT DE Van Fillinger and three of the four for VA DE Antwaun Powell. Both guys are weakside ends. Instate DE Bryce Mostella is also a possibility, but his only recent recruiting activity was a visit to Auburn, where his dad played linebacker.