Name: Dominic Nichols
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 251 lbs.
High school: Frederick (MD) Oakdale
Position: Defensive end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #33
Last year: Nichols was a senior in high school (LINK). He made 84 tackles, 15.5 sacks, 1 interception, and 77 quarterback pressures.
TTB Rating: 79
Nichols had an outstanding senior season with 15.5 sacks and, according to MGoBlue, a school record of 77 pressures. I have no idea about the history of Oakdale, but it’s hard to imagine getting more than 77 pressures in a high school season. His senior season showed some athletic and technical development, and he was blowing up high schoolers trying to block him.
Nichols enrolled early over the winter and participated in spring practices. He looked bigger than I expected (I figured he would be around 260 instead of listed at 251) and seemed like he could be a guy who gets an early role in mop-up situations. He’s probably not a guy who will rotate in during key moments, but Michigan is looking for people to step up at the edge positions; outside of Josaiah Stewart, Derrick Moore, and T.J. Guy, nobody really seems to know what to expect from the other edges. But this is a position that played at least four guys regularly in 2023, including Stewart, Moore, Braiden McGregor, and Jaylen Harrell. Can Nichols maybe be that fifth edge, kind of like T.J. Guy, who played 81 defensive snaps in 2023?
Prediction: Backup defensive end
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