Name: Micah Ka'apana
Height: 5'11″
Weight: 190 lbs.
High school: Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman
Position: Running back
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Ka'apana was a senior in high school (LINK). He ran for 732 yards and 9 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 66
One player with a tantalizing high school highlights reel is running back Micah Ka'apana. A product of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, he plays with a lot of other star players, so it's tough to gauge how well a player like him would produce on a more ho-hum team. But his junior highlights consist of a ton of long runs through huge holes. He averaged over 12 yards per carry that season and scored a total of 19 touchdowns on just 81 targets, which means he scored on almost 25% of his carries.
Michigan has usually been able to give at least three running backs a pretty good number of carries. With Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings likely to take a huge chunk of the touches, the real question is about who emerges as that third back. Some people are penciling in fellow freshman Jordan Marshall, while second-year player Ben Hall is also an intriguing option. Ka'apana is a speedy player with big-play potential, and he can catch the ball out of the backfield. Altogether, Michigan has a good mix of speedy players (Edwards, Ka'apana, Cole Cabana) and pound-the-rock types (Mullings, Hall, Marshall) to be able to do a variety of things with play calling and personnel. I think Ka'apana will probably get a few carries in mop-up duty if possible, but he's likely to play in four games or fewer so he can keep his redshirt.
Prediction: Redshirt
It'll be fun to watch if anyone emerges in that 3rd RB role. There's plenty of options and different flavors.
ReplyDeletePersonally I hope one of the freshman pop as Edwards' successor as the primary back. If neither does that, I hope Hall is used as a short-yardage thunder back and Cabana as a 3rd down lightning playmaker.
Typically with freshman it's ball security and blocking that hold them back. Still, we'll probably be able to tell quickly with Kaapana and Marshall if they have juice (or not) as ballcarriers.
Evil Roany is in the mood for rattling teeth this year. I'm pulling for Orji and Hall for lots of carries. Lots and lots of carries. Safeties refusing to come out on the field, sort of like The Hulk in Infinity War.
DeleteBring on the beef smash tank offense!
Delete(Hope our new OL is up for it!)
I've watched Ka'apana's vids a bunch of times now. Many times he isn't even a one cut back, he just kicks it into gear having been handed the ball assuming there is gonna be a big hole and on his hi-light vids, there is. He hits the thing going full speed, and even guys on teams playing a national schedule, have absolutely no shot.
ReplyDeleteThat is an awesome high school line they have at Bishop Gorman, I'd take any of them. It's looking like those guys are gonna do Nebraska and USC ... I think.
Wisconsin is doing work on their offensive line recruiting too ... really big and tall guys. Kind of looks like they want to be us even tho Longo is thought to be an Air Raid guy. Maybe they think they're pass blockers.
Roanman
Longo is an Air Raid guy when it comes to pass concepts and tempo, but he's not afraid to run the ball. He was the OC when both Javonte Williams and Michael Carter ran for 1,000+ yards for UNC back in 2020.
DeleteRB3 is tough to pick. We haven't seen The Don or Mullings with starters touches over an extended period, so who steps in will be determined by how those two perform & how their bodies endure
ReplyDeleteIf Marshall can block I think he's got the inside track, but who knows since he missed spring ball. My guess is Ben Hall gets first look and it's up to Marshall to pass him
We had not seen Hassan Haskins with starters touches over an extended period going into 2021.
DeleteWe had not seen Blake Corum with starters touches over an extended period going into 2022.
We have not seen Donovan Edwards with starters touches over an extended period going into 2024.
Kaleel Mullings played fewer snaps than Frederick Moore, Greg Crippen and Gio El Hadi last year. Donovan Edwards started 4 games and was a Harbaugh bellcow to close 2022 and is the NCAA football cover guy...but somehow these two are equated.
No, but we saw HH break tackles and gain tough yardage in 2o19 & 2o. He had already asserted himself as the best we had
DeleteWith Mullings, we know he's a beast. What we don't know is how well his body will hold up over a season
We know Edwards isn't exactly a physical runner. A dynamic playmaker, but that's not the same thing