mike hart

[Bryan Fuller]

Defensive coaches announced; Hart outgoing. Michigan has finally finished asking every one of their new defensive hires if they have ever run a vacuum refurbishment company with many negative reviews and officially announced them:

Moore's first staff is led by Don "Wink" Martindale, U-M's Matt and Nicole Lester Family Defensive Coordinator, who brings 19 years of NFL coaching experience to the program. Martindale was the architect of the defensive scheme that Michigan has run for the past three seasons and will continue to utilize as the framework for its 2024 unit.

The staff includes defensive line coach Greg Scruggs, linebackers coach/run game coordinator Brian Jean-Mary and defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator LaMar Morgan. The Wolverines have also added former defensive back Brad Hawkins as a graduate assistant coach.

There has been some chatter online about how Martindale didn't quite run the Ravens Defense as Michigan fans understand it via the lens of Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter—he was much more blitz heavy and ran more man defense—so the explicit statement that Martindale is here to change nothing is interesting. Reassuring? I don't know.

Also in "change nothing, do the same thing," LaMar Morgan is here largely on the recommendation of one guy:

"LaMar is someone that I have enjoyed getting to know through this process. He came highly recommended by Jesse Minter and I saw why he is respected as an top notch defensive backs coach during our conversations. He is an excellent teacher and communicator, and his passion for football and for helping young men achieve their goals showed through in his interview. I am excited to have LaMar mentoring our defensive secondary and coordinating the passing game."

Minter-recommended G5 DC becoming secondary coach: okay.

Unfortunately, Angelique Chengelis is reporting that Mike Hart will not return as a running backs coach next year. Hart does not have an instant landing spot elsewhere, and it's well past the usual coaching carousel, so it seems like this was a decision from Moore. There had been rumors about a lot of conflict between Harbaugh and Hart… but there are rumors about conflict between Harbaugh and everyone. 

[After THE JUMP: squeeze the money tree until it withers]

[Chitose Suzuki/Las Vegas Review Journal]

Michigan landed a commitment from 3* RB Micah Ka'apana over the weekend, the second RB in their 2024 recruiting class after Ohio's Jordan Marshall. Ka'apana hails from Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is a recruit that Michigan and Mike Hart have keyed in on for some time, hence their willingness to take him in the class in mid-June. Who is this masked man and why are the Michigan coaches so intrigued by his talent? Let's see: 

GURU RATINGS

RATINGS BY SITE

247: 5'11/195

On3: 5'11/195

Rivals: 5'11/185

ESPN: 6'0/185

3*, 86, NR Ovr

#72 RB, #4 NV
3*, 88, NR Ovr

#42 RB, #2 NV
3*, 5.7, NR Ovr

#29 RB, #3 NV
3*, 77, #91 West

#64 RB, #7 NV
3.57 3.79 3.82 3.55

COMPOSITE RANKINGS

247 Composite

On3 Consensus

MGoBlog

 
3*, 0.8744, #730 Ovr

#55 RB, #4 NV
3*, 87.33, #718 Ovr

#57 RB, #4 NV
3.5*, #593/793 Ovr

#44/61 RBs since 1990
3.74 3.73 3.70

At this time the scouting services view Ka'apana as a consensus 3* prospect, with Rivals and On3 being on the higher end of the evaluation while ESPN and 247 are on the lower end. Every site but ESPN has Ka'apana as a top four player in the state of Nevada, with ESPN rating him 7th. On our five star scale, Ka'apana ranks as a 3.70 star player out of 5 and 44th out of 61 RBs in our database since 1990. Rather ho-hum, but we will learn shortly why Mike Hart believes Ka'apana is much better than the public sites believe. Size-wise there is broad agreement, Ka'apana is likely 5'11 and somewhere between 185 and 195 lbs., with the weight discrepancy likely attributable to recency of update. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: #SpeedInSpace meets Mike Hart 2.0]

[On3]

Michigan Football has picked up their second 2024 commitment of the weekend today in earning the pledge of 3* RB Micah Ka'apana from Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas, NV: 

Ka'apana is a player that the Michigan staff considers to be grossly undervalued, and their willingness to take his commitment now speaks to that. Ka'apana has not gone to many camps and thus has flown largely under the radar, but a staggering 1,000 yards on just 70 carries as a junior(!) suggests he could fly up the rankings with a larger role as a senior this fall. Mike Hart sure thinks so and views him as an ideal complement to existing RB commit Jordan Marshall, a 4* from Ohio. Whether the commitment of Ka'apana takes Michigan out of the hunt for top 100 4* RB Taylor Tatum remains to be seen, but it speaks volumes about their afinity for Ka'apana to add him to the class as a take right now. 

Like I'Marion Stewart yesterday, Ka'apana will have his Hello this upcoming week. There is no content after the jump. 

let's remember one of the great days in Michigan Football history

Go ahead and take a gloat, underrated man, and when you're done we'll see what you've wriggled your way into this time.

Awooga!

answering your burning questions

An ultimately dominant showing that felt miserable to watch

A semi-mysterious power back

the 2nd RB in the 2023 class 

A speedster from right down the road 

By popular request we have brought back one of the original MGoShirts.

Literally everybody on this team could be the most indispensable player on the team.