Rising defensive end emerging as a standout player for Michigan football in spring ball

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Michigan Wolverines are looking to replace a good amount of talent at the EDGE position heading into the 2023 college football season. Over the past two seasons, the Wolverines have gotten elite (or close to it) production from their defensive ends, though with the loss of Eyabi Okie and Mike Morris, new faces will need to emerge as standout pass-rushers. One of those players is Braiden McGregor, who has reportedly been a standout player for Michigan football during spring ball.

Braiden McGregor could be the next standout Michigan football player to emerge from spring ball

As a recruit, Braiden McGregor was rated as a four-star prospect by the 247 Sports composite rankings, and was ranked as the No. 123 player in the 2020 recruiting class, the No. 5 defensive end in the class, and the No. 2 player in the state of Michigan. Since committing in late 2019, McGregor has not seen much meaningful playing time; however, the talent is there, and he is hungry to prove that he belongs — he is doing exactly that during spring ball.

“Braiden is an athletic freak…” Mike Morris, a former standout player for Michigan football, said. “Braiden had a lot of good snaps this year as well. He came in clutch in the Michigan State game with a sack. Both of them can do really good things.”

Michigan football, McGregor using Fiesta Bowl loss as fuel

We are a few months removed from the Wolverines’ 6-point loss to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, yet rising standout player for Michigan football Braiden McGregor is using that game as fuel.

“Yeah, I watched it. And it’s just — it wasn’t great to watch because, you’re watching it, like, we should have gotten there,” McGregor told Wolverines Wire. “I feel like we had a lot of mistakes that game, we kind of beat ourselves. And, you watch the other semifinal game, and I was like, OK, (Ohio State) hung with them, and they’d had a good game, maybe should have won, you know? Speculation and everything. But it was like — we handled them and you see what happened in the final game, you’re like, ‘Man, that should have been us.’

“The biggest takeaway, we get to that time this year, shot ourselves in the foot two years — not prepared first year, and then this year being prepared, and it was like, we just got to get there. And just, when adversity hits, we just got to say, whatever, you just got to keep going. Because I feel like that was the biggest thing of like — we didn’t lose a game, and it really wasn’t a lot of games where there was adversity. So I think when that happened, it was a little tough for us. But I think we’ll be prepared this year for sure.”

Throughout his time in the Maize and Blue, McGregor has seen action in 23 Michigan football games, recording 21 tackles and two sacks thus far. Heading into the 2023 season, watch for him to step up and take over as Michigan’s top pass rusher, possibly helping lead the Wolverines to another Big Ten title and more.

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