Greg Crippen’s path to Michigan, outlook for 2022

Michigan Wolverines football offensive lineman Greg Crippen grew up in Northborough, Massachusetts but took his talents down south to IMG Academy in Florida to play high school football.

IMG is a very competitive environment, but Crippen was still able to start at center during his junior and senior seasons and put up a lot of success. During those two seasons as a starter, Crippen allowed zero sacks. The talented center was also a great leader on the team, which earned him captain honors during both of those seasons.

Crippen, along with Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, helped lead IMG to a remarkable season during his senior year. IMG finished the season 8-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. That led to some impressive honors: 2019 MaxPreps Junior All-American, Sports Illustrated All-American Finalist and the IMG 2020 Spring Offensive Lineman MVP.

With that kind of success along the offensive line, it was easy to see Crippen would be a good fit at Michigan. However, Harbaugh wasn’t the only one going after Crippen, who was ranked a three-star by 247Sports as the No. 7 center in the conutry. He also received impressive offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Auburn, but ultimately chose to take his talents to Ann Arbor.

As a freshman, Crippen was able to find a lot of playing time for a first-year player and appeared in six games at center, including in the Big Ten Championship against Iowa.

Crippen has a good chance at being the starting center for the Michigan Wolverines in the future, and maybe would have that role this year if Olu Oluwatimi, who is expected to be the starter in 2022, didn’t transfer from Virginia. Those two will be battling it out for the starting job this year, but Crippen’s time is likely to come in 2023.