Yesterday, four-star IMG Academy offensive lineman Greg Crippen became the third member of Michigan's 2021 class. Since commitments come in pairs, a fourth came hours later in three-star NJ DE Dominick Guidice, who'll get the full Hello treatment later. Before transferring to national powerhouse IMG as a sophomore, Crippen played at Milton Academy in Massachusetts, which produced 2020 signee Kalel Mullings.

Crippen had been committed to Notre Dame for nearly a year before reopening his recruitment at the beginning of the month. While he wasn't able to make a planned trip to Ann Arbor due to COVID-19 concerns, a discussion with Jim Harbaugh this week sealed the deal anyway, according to The Wolverine's EJ Holland; Crippen had previously been on campus for last year's MTSU game. 

Crippen also told 247's Brian Dohn that Ed Warinner played a huge role in his commitment:

“He has never stopped recruiting me and my family,” Crippen said. “It’s all about relationships. You can see from this year’s (NFL) combine for Michigan, he will get you there with hard work and dedication.”

Expected to play center at Michigan, Crippen is the second offensive lineman in the 2021 class, joining in-state four-star tackle Giovanni El-Hadi.

GURU RATINGS

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
4*, 5.9, #5 OG, #14 FL, #129 Ovr	4*, 80, #15 OG, #48 FL, #290 Ovr	4*, 90, #13 OG, #36 FL	4*, 0.9173, #11 OG, #30 FL, #222 Ovr

Crippen is listed as a guard on all three sites, so I went through the position rankings to see where he'd place at center on each site. He'd be the #2 center on Rivals, #5 on ESPN, and #3 on 247. Being a prospect seen primarily as a center—and that's the case with Crippen, who's 6'4", 285 pounds—tends to put a cap on a prospect's ranking unless they're a Cesar Ruiz-level anomaly.

Rivals likes him the most of the three services, placing him not far outside the top 100, while the other two have him in the 250-300 range. 247 must have him just outside their Top247, as the guard one spot above Crippen in their position rankings is their #188 overall prospect.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

While there isn't anything first-hand out there from Crippen's early days in Massachusetts, which isn't much of a surprise, his initial commitment to Notre Dame brought a wave of evaluations. He started at left guard for IMG as a sophomore, an impressive feat in and of itself, and Blue & Gold Illustrated's Bryan Driskell saw a prospect playing ahead of his years:

Crippen has good size for a young player and his punch already stands out with his game. Crippen is also a fundamentally sound player with advanced technique for a sophomore.

Despite playing beside much older players, Crippen stood out on film with his power and ability to get movement. At times he’ll stop his feet at the point of contact, but when he stays low and drives off the ball he can drive defenders off the ball. Crippen’s quickness on down blocks is impressive, he’s a high-end pass blocker and he moves well in space.

That sentiment was echoed by IrishIllustrated's Tim Prister with some more detail after diving into Crippen's camp performances and sophomore film:

Crippen has great vision as a zone blocker, using a term normally associated with running backs and wide receivers. Vision for an offensive lineman? I don’t know if I’ve ever written that, but Crippen has a great sense, feel and, yes, vision after he’s successfully blocked or sealed off one defender. He instinctively slides to the next man to block. He frequently does the work of more than one offensive lineman on a play.

Crippen reengages with a defensive lineman after his initial block. Most highly-rated offensive linemen use their hands well. It’s a significant weapon.

Where Crippen separates himself is his ability to get his hands back in the defensive lineman’s “kitchen” within a split second after the defensive lineman has disengaged. In hand-to-hand combat, Crippen is going to win a majority of the time.

IMG's offensive coordinator appears to be a rather open Notre Dame fan and he was more than happy to give Irish outlets quotes on one of his charges. His work ethic is praised up, down, and sideways:

“Like I said, if you look at his tape from the first part of last year to the Hoover game, our last game of the season, the strides that he made in the seven or eight games was unbelievable,” Sears said. “His confidence level, his physicality, his understanding of what we’re doing – because he’s a really intelligent guy – he grew a ton.

“That was due in large part to his unbelievable work ethic, but also those guys that I mentioned taking him under their wing and making sure he grew. A lot of guys honestly would’ve backed down from that because they’re tough guys, they were tough on him. But he didn’t. He transitioned from the youngest guy in the group with no experience to those guys (enrolling early at) their universities, so he became the leader overnight.”

Crippen's development as a sophomore continued into his junior year. 247's John Garcia Jr. saw him as the leader of IMG's offensive line at their fall scrimmage last August:

Perhaps the top offensive line prospect on the roster at this stage, Crippen looked like it against that strong defensive front. The Notre Dame commitment looks to have made a considerable stride in the weight room as he continues to fill out his frame. There is good pop at the point of contact and one of his defensive counterparts echoed as much to 247Sports after the scrimmage.

Irish Illustrated reviewed his full season opener—notably, his first game as IMG's starting center—and came away saying he has some development left to go:

He’s aggressive, he’s conditioned, and he appears to be tough. But what I saw was a young center who has work to do in attacking linemen in space, staying locked onto his opponent, and finishing blocks.

Too often I saw sloppy footwork. But at the same time, I’d also see Crippen occasionally flash outstanding impact, knocking down big-bodied defenders with surprising physicality.

This is a three-star center with work to do and the attitude and mindset to get after that work. That’s where he stands with me from a talent perspective.

To be clear, I don’t doubt he’ll complete that work. His drive and effort are in the right places.

247's Brandon Huffman evaluated Crippen for the free scouting report on his profile page just a couple weeks ago, and while he sees some of the same technical issues, he also believes Michigan has landed a Power 5 starting center:

An interior linemen who is a natural center, Crippen does a good job of making the snap then engaging the necessary defender. Uses his hands well and keeps his defender engaged. Decently flexible, at times looks like he's bending at the waist but then shows more knee bend. Looks for contact and where he can deliver a punch. Occasionaly lunges so we'll need to work on that and keep his balance while also keeping his feet chopping. Projects as multi-year Power 5 starter.

Former Michigan lineman Rueben Riley got into the nitty gritty of snap mechanics while scouting Crippen after his commitment for SI's Michigan subsite:

From his center spot, Crippen has college-level shotgun snaps. They are sharp and clean; not the lofty arch snaps you see from many high school centers. He's also technically sound with his feet and hands. He's very strong and explosive into blocks in the run game and really has a mean streak and the motor to finish blocks. He possesses power in his punch in pass pro and moves well in space. He doesn’t have much wasted motion.

Like the others, Riley mentioned that Crippen needs to do a better job of maintaining his base before comparing him to Ben Bredeson.

OFFERS

While Crippen doesn't have the longest list of scholarship offers, it's a distinguished one that includes Alabama, Auburn, Notre Dame (obviously), Ohio State, and USC. Others on the list: Duke, Indiana, Pitt, Purdue, and Syracuse. That list would be longer if he hadn't spent nearly a year committed to ND, whether because schools didn't bother to offer or he didn't bother to report those offers.

HIGH SCHOOL

IMG needs little introduction. Michigan's most recent center, the NFL-bound Cesar Ruiz, was IMG's starting center before arriving in Ann Arbor. That worked out very well.

STATS

OL, no stats.

FAKE 40 TIME

Crippen has verified combine numbers on his 247 page from an Opening regional that took place in February 2019: a 5.46 40 (zero FAKEs), 4.93 shuttle, and 22.8-inch vertical. While he's not a Ruiz-level physical marvel, he comes off as a good enough athlete on film to be a fine center; I'm not too concerned with sophomore-year combine numbers for an interior lineman.

VIDEO

Junior highlights. While watching these, it's worth keeping in mind that IMG plays arguably the most difficult schedule of any high school program in the country, and their scrimmages are high-level, too:

Sophomore highlights, freshman highlights, and single-game reels can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Crippen should be afforded some time to develop, as Michigan has done an excellent job of recruiting interior linemen over the past couple classes. From the last two classes, Nolan Rumler, Zach Carpenter, and Reece Atteberry are all capable of playing center. While one of two of them will probably end up playing guard, their presence should give Crippen a redshirt year and whatever time he needs after that to develop into a starter.

I like his chances of becoming a multi-year starter at center. The three players mentioned above may all be better used at guard, particularly if Crippen is as advanced at snapping and reading blocks as advertised.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

It's off to an excellent start on the offensive line. Crippen's commitment means Michigan is done pursuing Cass Tech four-star Raheem Anderson, another prospect seen as a center only. The coaches appeared to prioritize Crippen over Anderson of late.

Holland suggests the coaches are hoping for, and could very well get, an offensive line class of Crippen, El-Hadi, top-100 guard in-state Rocco Spindler, top-150 Chicagoland tackle David Davidkov, and three-star Detroit Country Day tackle Caleb Tiernan, whose offer list (which includes Michigan, OSU, and PSU) suggests he could move up the rankings a fair amount.

Here's the class as it currently stands: