jordan marshall

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

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]

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: 

Committed!! 〽️ #GoBlue @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/Lap2t4pNqg

— Micah Ka’apana ✞ (@MicahKaapana) June 17, 2023

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. 

Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you're playing basketball and let him get the lead. Then you just come back and take it back.

Michigan's Ohio Strategy is starting to become a blitzkreig, as Michigan's top running back target, and the #3 player in Ohio, just committed to the school of De'Veon Smith, Gene Derricotte, Fitz Toussaint, Rob Lytle, and Bob Chappuis.

Unlike some historical Ohio guys like Dick Sygar, Richard Vick, Tom Curtis, Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson, this latest RB liberated from the Land of Bad Presidents looks like he's going to stay in the backfield. He's also the second head-to-head recruiting win over the Buckeyes in as many days, with both Marshall's and that Hillman coming out of last weekend's visitpocalypse.

Huge kudos are in order for Mike Hart, whose recruiting was starting to get questioned in these parts and others. 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.

GURU RATINGS

I know what you're thinking and yes, so far we've avoided the 5-star curse.*

Rivals is the closest to flirting with a 5th star, but still have him rated two levels below the dreaded 6.1 rating. ESPN has him behind ten guys in the SEC footprint, nine of whom they have ranked higher than any other site. 247 and Rivals have both started to downgrade the position in general—247's top RB is currently a 4-star and ranked 41st overall (their 2nd RB is Taylor Tatum at 49th, who has a crystal ball to Michigan). 247 moved him up to a 91 just yesterday.

[AFTER THE JUMP: How important was Marshall for Ohio State?]