The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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14 THE WOLVERINE ❱ SEPTEMBER 2023 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Perseverance can often be a defining trait when it comes to finding a role on the Michigan football team. Few know that as well as senior edge rusher Braiden McGregor, who looks to put his best foot forward after a roller coaster first few seasons in Ann Arbor. The opportunity he now has in front of him this year is one he had to fight and persevere for. It was tough for him to find the field early on in his Michigan career. He spent his freshman year in 2020 rehabbing a serious knee injury from high school and made just nine appearances in 2021. Last season, McGregor appeared in all 14 games, starting three times and registering 2.5 sacks among his 5 tackles for loss. In 2023, he could be one of the go-to guys on the field for the Michigan defense. McGregor is expected to be one of the leaders at edge for the Wolverines along with classmate Jaylen Harrell, junior Josaiah Stewart and sophomore Derrick Moore. "Looking back at it, I wouldn't change it for anything," said McGregor, who is enrolled in the College of Languages, Science and the Arts as a general studies major. "It sucked in the moment, and I hated a lot of days as a freshman. Where I am now and looking at this defense and this team that we have, I mean … it's just hard not to be excited for the season. "For me, I guess it's just knowing that you're going to be good one day and that everything's going to be all right. Freshman year, there are dark times, but now everything's getting brighter. David Ojabo told me my sophomore year to take it day by day. "That's really what I've been doing. I've been telling the younger guys that just day by day, keep getting better. And that's what I'm trying to do this camp — just stack days and continue getting better." McGregor suffered a torn ACL coming out of high school at Port Huron (Mich.) Northern and then had to work his way up from the bottom of the depth chart at Michigan. Those were tough days to deal with, but he came out clean on the other side. "You're thinking, 'I'm that guy out of high school, I'm going to be able to go in and compete for a starting role,'" McGregor said. "And then like any freshman, you get here and you're like, 'OK, these guys are pretty good.' It was hard. You had Kwity [Paye], you had Ojabo, all those guys. Seeing them play, and then the injuries happen, and then it's like, 'Man, I wish I could be the next guy up, but I'm just not cleared.' I can't do anything. "Having the support system that I have around the building, at home with my family and my dog, being able to hang out with him when I go home, it helped out a lot. It was pretty easy some days, and some days it was harder. I'm happy that those days did happen." — Anthony Broome McGregor had 5 tackles for loss and a pair of pass breakups in 14 games as a reserve last season. PHOTO BY DOMINICK SOKOTOFF ❱ Student-Athlete Of The Month Senior Edge Braiden McGregor MICHIGAN'S TOP PERFORMERS Women's track and field senior Ziyah Holman: The 2021 first-team All-Amer- ican (indoor distance medley relay) and school record-holder in the indoor and outdoor 400 meters collected two medals for the United States at the North American, Central American and Caribbean U23 Championships in Costa Rica July 21-23. She clocked a 50.95 to claim the silver medal in the 400-meter final and was part of a gold-medal-winning 4x400 relay team. Her group secured the gold medal with a meet- record time of 3:26.83. Rowing senior Zara Collisson: The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association announced that she is one of 11 nominees to receive the Ath- lete of the Year award for the 2023 season. She's one of five nominees at the Division I level, with Division II and Division III having three honorees apiece. This past spring, she was named a first-team All- American and led the U-M first varsity eight boat to a gold medal at the Big Ten Championships — the second in her career (the other came with the sec- ond varsity eight in 2021). Football senior Blake Corum: The U-M running back made the preseason watch list for three major national hon- ors — the Maxwell Award (most outstanding player), Walter Camp Award (best player) and Doak Walker Award (top run- ning back). He was a finalist for the Doak Walker last season and named a unanimous first-team All-American, U-M's 25th to earn the honor and its first at his position since Bob Chappuis in 1947. Corum finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting after missing the better part of the last three games with a knee injury. Women's golf fifth-year senior Hailey Borja: She achieved a career-best run at the U.S. Women's Amateur at the Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles in her fourth appear- ance (and ninth USGA event), reaching the semifinals for the first time. That marked the sec- ond straight year with a Wolver- ine in the semifinals of the event, with Monet Chun doing so in 2022. Borja earned the No. 7 seed after stroke-play qualifying, and she won four match-play showdowns before falling to sixth-seeded Megan Schofill of Auburn in the semifinals. Schofill went on to win the tournament. — Clayton Sayfie