Michigan landed a new commit over the weekend for its 2023 class in New York/Massachusetts TE Andrew Rappleyea, the second offensive commit of the class, and the first tight end. He joins a lineage of northeast tight ends that Michigan has recruited in the Harbaugh era, preceded by Louis Hansen, Luke Schoonmaker, and Sean McKeon. Let's give him a proper Hello: 

GURU RATINGS 

Last row is Seth's conversion to a five-star scale. Links are to profiles 

As always, important to note that these are 2023 rankings based on up through junior year of games, so there is a lot of room for these to shift around a bit over the next year. No dispute over Rappleyea's size: everybody agrees he's 6'4", 215 lbs. As for the ratings, we've got On3 on the higher end, 24/7 on the lower end, and ESPN not even bothering, which frankly isn't much different from the level of effort they give even when they do offer a rating. The composite lands him close to the top 300, a 4* recruit who at surface level, seems like a pretty solid add to the class. Let's dig deeper. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Large boy against littler boys]

SCOUTING 

First we turn to Rivals, who give us a decent overview of the TE prospect from Massachusetts: 

Rappleyea is a very athletic and well-rounded tight end that should be able to contribute to an offense in a variety of ways. He has shown the ability to stretch the field and simply outrun linebackers in the open field. He uses his length to his advantage as a pass catcher, showing the ability to catch the ball away from his body and box out defenders

Size pops up in that rundown of Rappleyea, and you'd have to imagine that was a pretty big advantage to him playing in a not terribly high talent state like Massachusetts. For the record, Michigan appeared to be reassured by the size component of Rappleyea's profile, with Steve Lorenz telling us the staff was thrilled when he measured in over the listed 6'4" ($): 

(The coaching staff) became more enamored with (Rappleyea) after having him on campus and being able to officially measure him. The Massachusetts native came in at a legitimate 6'4.5", which exceeded what Michigan thought he'd be

Reading between the lines, I can imagine the coaching staff loved Rappleyea's tape and profile, but was a bit skittish about how big he actually was, given that he played against smaller Massachusetts defenders. Once they found out he was B1G playing height, they jumped in head-first. 

There is not a ton of scouting out there on Rappleyea because New England isn't a hotbed and he has yet to make it to the camp circuits (that's likely to come this summer). Very few of the recruiting analysts have actually seen him in person, but EJ Holland of On3 is able to give us some brief takes based on the tape ($): 

I will say that on film Rappleyea looks like an athletic pass catcher that is in a similar mold to Klein and Loveland. He has the frame to add quality weight and will continue to advance as an in-line blocker. 

That more or less lines up with what Rivals was describing, more of a receiver-first tight end who has some areas to grow physically and as a blocker. Indeed, that was (almost verbatim) the other half of the Rivals write-up I quoted earlier: 

He is a willing and technically sound blocker that can line up with his hand in the ground or standing up. Rappleyea will need to get much stronger and fill out his frame at the next level before he can be counted on in this area

A comparison that comes up in a few Rappleyea writeups is 2022 recruit Colston Loveland. We haven't gotten to see him yet in an NCAA game, but recruiting gurus see them in a similar mold. Touch the Banner also mentions Erick All before stewing more on the acrobatic catch component of Rappleyea's game: 

He has good ball skills and can go up and contort his body to reel in catches. He also does a good job of catching the ball with his hands rather than being a body catcher ... His speed is adequate, though he does not play against particularly good competition. 

Some question about the speed there, but this is a sizable target who seems adept at being able to go up and get the ball, one who will need to bulk up physically to be able to play at the NCAA level. 

OFFERS 

Rappleyea first started picking up offers in the summer before they really began to flow in during his junior season. He visited the Big House for The Game and Michigan offered him a little bit after that, on December 24. Rappleyea had an array of offers, including OSU, Wisconsin, Illinois, MSU, PSU, UNC, Ole Miss, Pitt, Tennessee, VT, Wake Forest, UVA, West Virginia, and more. 

HIGH SCHOOL 

Rappleyea started his HS career at Poughkeepsie (NY)'s Our Lady of Lourdes but has since transferred to Milton Academy in Milton, MA, because of its superior football program. Milton is an independent prep school whose alumni list includes Robert F. and Ted Kennedy, as well as Stephen Humphrey Bogart, the lone son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. As for football, Milton plays in a league with other independent prep schools and is the best in their league (went 9-1, 5-0 in league in 2021), and one of the better teams in New England. That said, over the past nineteen seasons they claim to have sent twenty-six players to D1 programs, which isn't nothing, but also isn't exactly a high-level public school in Texas. This is still Massachusetts, and this is a prep school we're talking about. It may be better than small town New York football like where Rappleyea started, but it's still not the best competition in the world. 

STATS 

I had trouble finding any stats of Rappleyea this past year at first. Milton's MaxPreps page has no statistics, but I was able to find some numbers from a 24/7 article: 21 catches for 475 yards and four TDs. 

FAKE 40 TIME 

Rappleyea reports a 4.65 forty on his Hudl page. That number would've been faster than most all of the tight ends at the 2019 NFL Draft combine, including first round selection TJ Hockenson. Given that Rappleyea doesn't appear to be a burner on tape, that number seems very likely to be (let's say a four or a five) FAKE. 

VIDEO 

Here are his junior year highlights: 

ETC 

Another academics focused kid. Brother Allen plays for Wake Forest. Has a Spanellis-vs.-Notre-Dame block as his third highlight on his reel. 

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE 

Rappleyea is a tight end prospect who's definitely more advanced as a receiver than a blocker right now, but as you see from his tape, he's a willing blocker. It's just that some elements of his form will need to be tweaked and he'll need to bulk up. Right now he's mauling undersized opponents who won't be playing high major college football. As a receiver, he's got decent size, seemingly decent athleticism, a good catch radius, and a willingness to go up and corral the football. That's a good set of skills to build on. Michigan isn't going to need him to produce right away, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect Rappleyea to be playing as a true freshman. He's not a Schoonmaker/Gentry project, but there will be an adjustment period. Bring him in, let him work with Jay Harbaugh for a year and then he should begin to see some snaps in year two or three, with the goal of being a solid contributor by his upperclassmen years. 

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS 

Michigan is still in the early stages of building this class, and Rappleyea, like Semaj Morgan, gives you a nice piece to lay as a foundation at this position. The Wolverines took two tight ends in the 2022 class (Marlin Klein and Loveland), but per EJ Holland's reporting, they are not done recruiting TEs for 2023. Jay Harbaugh is always on the trail, and his father's hunt for tight ends will never end. Detroit TE Khamari Anderson (Raheem's brother) would seem to be a pretty easy add as the 2nd TE in the class if they decide he's a "take", but the program has several other guys they're high on. We'll investigate this further when the recruiting board is updated for 2023 in the coming days.