Michigan completes the trifecta with third transfer portal commitment

Fans have been eagerly waiting for Michigan to make moves in the transfer portal, and on Thursday, the Wolverines signed their third player out of the portal -- being the third specialist.

The Wolverines landed Pitt's kicker Trey Butkowski, who played with Michigan's new long snapper, Nico Crawford.

Butkowski went to Pitt as a true freshman and won the job. The Orlando, Florida prospect was a three-star kicker coming out of high school. In 11 games for the Panthers, Butkowski made 20-of-23 kicks for Pitt. All three of his misses come from beyond 40 yards on the year. He also made 43-of-44 extra points this year. He made Pro Football Focus' Freshman All-American team.

Michigan has signed Pittsburgh freshman kicker Trey Butkowski, @mzenitz and I have learned for @CBSSports.

He went 20-for-23 this season on field goal attempts. https://t.co/ArLr7xN7iJ pic.twitter.com/cphTXwnyin
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) January 8, 2026

Butkowski was the ninth-ranked kicker according to Kohl's Kicking coming out of high school. Here was the the scouting report on him:

"Butkowski competed at Kohl's 2024 National Scholarship Camp in July of 2024. He scored 30/36 points on field goals and 109.3 points on kickoffs at the event. Butkowski recently competed at the 2024 Southern Showcase and displayed D1 leg strength. He charted 116.7 points on kickoffs and 11/15 points on field goals. At Kohl's Future Stars Invitational, he had an excellent showing at camp and displayed excellent leg strength and command of his contact.

"He scored 7 points in the field goal charting and connected with some great reps during the drill work portion of camp on field goals. He scored 100.60 points in the kickoff charting and hit a big ball of 65 yards with 3.62 seconds of hang time at the event. Butkowski attended a winter 2023 Showcase Camp. He was able to separate himself in the drill work phase of camp. He also scored 9/15 points on field goals and 101 points on kickoffs during the charting phase of camp. Butkowski had another strong showing at the 2023 Kohl's National Scholarship Camp. He showcased excellent leg speed once again and scored 105.17 in the kickoff portion of camp. BUtkowski has D1 leg speed and should be a very recruitable player this fall and winter!"

Butkowski will likely replace Dominic Zvada as the starting kicker next season with Zvada running out of eligibility.

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