Name: Braiden McGregor
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 265 lbs.
High school: Port Huron (MI) Northern
Position: Defensive end
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #17
Last year: I ranked McGregor #45 and said he would be a backup outside linebacker (LINK). He made 5 tackles and 1 tackle for loss.
TTB Rating: 87
This is McGregor's third straight year ranked in the 40s, and so far I don't think I've been right. While I gave him a TTB Rating of 87 coming out of high school, I took some heat from a family member last fall when I said on Twitter that McGregor just didn't look right and that I wasn't sure he would ever get up to speed. McGregor had a nasty knee injury as a senior in high school, and his explosiveness just hasn't been there. Last year he looked pretty average as a backup for Aidan Hutchinson while making just 5 tackles and a lone TFL against Northwestern.
The hope, of course, is that he ends up returning to form. After having to redshirt in 2020 and then being a third-stringer in 2021, this could be a time for a breakout now that Hutchinson is off to the NFL. I don't think it will be full breakout time because Mike Morris is expected to be the starter, so we'll see how many snaps McGregor can get while also contending with the likes of Julius Welschof, Taylor Upshaw, and others for snaps.
Prediction: Backup defensive end
Trying to stay patient but just haven't seen anything yet. Of course last year this was a deep position - Morris was a quality backup, Upshaw was OK, and Harrell had his moments - but it's not like there was no opportunity at all. By spring, with Ojabo and Hutch already gone - things were open and there should have been some noise making. But it's been very very quite on the McGregor front.
ReplyDeleteI see a sharp contrast with another recent edge/DE who hadn't done much of anything through his first 2 years on campus. Chase Winovich got ranked at a similar spot in the 2016 countdown (37) but I argued he was pretty underrated there based mostly off offseason/spring buzz. Wino was coming. McGregor seems like the other way around. Is that reading too much into buzz? Maybe, but the context is similar - there's an opportunity to at least be a key backup.
Certainly people develop at different times but I was hoping for more by this point from McGregor as a 4-star/top 150 recruit. I think the Welshof move back to the outside was a red flag for a few guys.