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Class of 2024: National Signing Day News

I’ll be updating National Signing Day news here for the class of 2024, including commitments, signings of National Letters of Intent, etc.

NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT SIGNED
QB Jadyn Davis
RB Micah Ka’apana
RB Jordan Marshall
WR Channing Goodwin
WR I’Marion Stewart
TE Hogan Hansen
OL Blake Frazier
OL Jake Guarnera
OL Luke Hamilton
OL Ben Roebuck
OL Andrew Sprague
DE Devon Baxter
DE Lugard Edokpayi
DE Dominic Nichols
DT Manuel Beigel
DT Ted Hammond
DT Deyvid Palepale
DT Owen Wafle
LB Jeremiah Beasley
LB Mason Curtis
LB Zach Ludwig
LB Jaden Smith
CB Jeremiah Lowe
S Jacob Oden

Recruiting Snapshot: Michigan State

2024 CLASS RANKING
#61 nationally, #17 in Big Ten. The Spartans have 13 commits (two 4-stars, eleven 3-stars).

CREAM OF THE 2024 CROP
The top-ranked high school recruit for the Spartans is River Rouge (MI) River Rouge wide receiver Nick Marsh (4-star, #20 WR, #122 overall). Michigan State has so far fended off other teams’ advances, even though Marsh decommitted for a while, but he now seems solid with the Spartans after they hired former Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith. The other star of the class is another former Beaver in quarterback transfer Aidan Chiles, who is the #1 quarterback in the transfer portal and the #2 player overall. He sat behind D.J. Uiagalelei last season but is a potential star at 6’3″ and 200 lbs. He was the #58 overall player in the class of 2023.

Hit the jump for more.

Class of 2024: Early Signing Day Primer

The “early” National Signing Day for the class of 2024 will be on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. This early signing day has really killed some of the excitement that used to exist, built during a slow off-season after the bowls. Now the early signing day is mixed in with the College Football Playoff discussion, upcoming bowls, transfer portal drama, and coaching changes . . . not to mention a little thing called Christmas about a week later.

Michigan is also offering 300+ players per cycle and decommitments happen left and right, depending on who’s offering the best NIL plan, so it’s harder and harder for the average fan to follow recruiting.

Instead of doing a player-by-player rundown of what remains of the 2024 class, I’ll try to address the most pressing issues. And if anything surprising happens, so be it.

WHAT HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS ARE ON THE CLOCK?
More than 30 offered players remain uncommitted for 2024, but most are not considering Michigan. The most prominent target is District Heights (MD) Bishop McNamara DE Lugard Edokpayi (4-star, #25 EDGE, #305 overall). Edokpayi took an official visit to Michigan in the middle of last week, and he has now been crystal balled to the Wolverines by Brice Marich and has a FutureCast from Josh Henschke. Edokpayi is the lone uncommitted prospect who seems to be a strong possibility for the Wolverines, but sometimes there are surprises.

Hit the jump for more.

Visitors: December 15-17, 2023

TRANSFERS

Jaishawn Barham – LB – Maryland: Barham is a 6’4″, 233 lb. prospect who spent the past two seasons with the Terrapins. In the class of 2022, he was a 4-star, the #10 linebacker, and #119 overall. For the 2023 season, he made 37 tackles, 3 sacks, and 1 interception; that 1 interception came in the red zone against Michigan in the second to last week of the regular season. He could be a potential replacement for the graduating Michael Barrett, and perhaps junior Junior Colson could enter the NFL draft, too. Michigan offered him out of high school when he was coming from Baltimore (MD) St. Frances, which is the school that produced Blake Corum, Derrick Moore, Eyabi Okie, and others.

Joey Slackman – DT – Penn: Originally from Commack (NY) Commack, Slackman is a 6’4″, 300 lb. grad transfer from Penn. He made 49 tackles and 4.5 sacks in 2023. The 2024 season would be his sixth year. UPDATE: Slackman is no longer visiting Michigan.

Upton Stout – S – Western Kentucky: Stout visited last weekend. He’s a 5’9″, 185 lb. player who made 29 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 interception, and 8 pass breakups this past year. Originally from Houston (TX) North Shore, he started off at North Texas before transferring to WKU. Stout made 4 interceptions during his first year at WKU in 2022. Stout will be a redshirt junior in 2024 and could step in at nickel for Mike Sainristil.

2024

Jo’Ziah Edmond – CB – Nappanee (IN) Northwood: Edmond is committed to Michigan (LINK). He’s a 4-star, the #23 cornerback, and #335 overall. This is his official visit.

Lugard Edokpayi – DE – District Heights (MD) Bishop McNamara: Edokpayi is a 6’6″, 230 lb. prospect with offers from Florida State, Maryland, Michigan, Rutgers, Tennessee, and Texas A&M, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #22 edge, and #268 overall. This is his official visit, a midweek stay from December 12-14.

Zach Ludwig – LB – South Park (PA) South Park: Ludwig is committed to Michigan. This is his official visit.

Jaden Smith – LB – Charlotte (NC) West Charlotte: Smith is committed to Michigan (LINK). This is his official visit.

C.J. Stokes, Ex-Wolverine

Michigan running back C.J. Stokes has entered the transfer portal. This past season was his second season in the program, and he redshirted, so he will have three seasons to play three seasons. He was a 3-star, the #63 running back, and #797 overall in the 2022 recruiting class out of Columbia (SC) Hammond. I initially gave him a TTB Rating of 59 before bumping him up to a 71 at the end of the cycle.

Stokes got a lot of playing time as a freshman. He ran 55 times for 273 yards and 1 touchdown, and he also caught 1 pass for 15 yards, while playing in eleven games. But toward the end of the season, Kalel Mullings switched from linebacker to running back and started to take some snaps. That carried over into the 2023 campaign.

During the current 2023 season, Stokes played in just two games and ran 2 times for 6 yards. He did have injury issues that caused him to miss a chunk of time. Either way, though, he appeared to have lost ground to Mullings.

I liked what I saw from Stokes during his time at Michigan, but he needed to continue getting stronger and working on some fundamental things, such as getting his shoulders square to defenders. I think he can go somewhere and still have a productive career.

Looking ahead to 2024, Blake Corum could technically return (if he uses the COVID year exemption) but will almost certainly be heading to the NFL. Donovan Edwards expressed before the season that he planned to jump to the NFL, but his season did not go according to plan. And Mullings played a good-sized role with 32 carries for 195 yards and 1 touchdown, possibly earning him the chance to be a starter next season. Edwards and Mullings could make a nice 1-2 punch in 2024 if both decide to return.

Potential depth chart for 2024 (according to seniority):

1. Kalel Mullings (RS Sr.)
2. Donovan Edwards (Sr.)
3. Tavierre Dunlap (RS Jr.)
4. Cole Cabana (RS Fr.)
5. Ben Hall (RS Fr.)
6. Micah Ka’apana (Fr.)
7. Jordan Marshall (Fr.)

Stokes is the third member of the 2022 class to transfer, following safety Damani Dent (Charlotte) and linebacker Deuce Spurlock (Florida).