#116. Brady Smigiel – QB – Thousand Oaks (CA) Newbury Park: The 6’5″, 215 lb. freshman quarterback injured his knee during his senior season of high school and is very likely to redshirt during his first year on campus. Ranked as a 4-star, the #26 quarterback, and #406 overall in the 247 Composite, he completed 64.4% of his passes as a senior for 1,634 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions in six games before getting hurt. I think Smigiel is a fine athlete with a solid arm, but I am concerned about how slow his footwork can be when getting into position to throw, and the ball gets to his receivers too late. Regardless of how developed he is overall, he’s unlikely to play in
#117. Micah Ka’apana – RB – Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman: Ka’apana had been heading into the 2026 season with the possibility of being the #3 or #4 back, but a spring leg injury ended his season before it began. Head coach Kyle Whittingham announced during spring ball that Ka’apana had suffered an injury and would miss the entire year. Totaling 10 carries for 38 yards and 1 catch for 8 yards in 2025, Ka’apana would have been battling freshman Savion Hiter and former walk-on Bryson Kuzdzal for playing time. With Hiter, Kuzdzal, and starter Jordan Marshall, Michigan has a solid top three, but the things veer into unknown territory with unproven players like redshirt freshman Donovan Johnson and true freshman Jonathan Brown.
65. RB Micah Ka’apana (RS Fr.): As expected for last season, Ka’apana took a redshirt after playing in just two games. He looked tiny – and still doesn’t look very big – but was able to catch a jet sweep pass for 4 yards against Northwestern. He looked decent in the spring on a few runs, but he just doesn’t have the strength at this point to power through tackles. He’s probably another year or two away from contributing in a big way, but his quickness and pass catching skills may prove to be valuable since the top couple backs are known more for being powerful and tough. Last year’s rank: #94.
64. DE Nate Marshall (Fr.): Marshall (4-star, #3 edge, and #43 overall) seems to be flying under the radar a little bit for being the #43 overall recruit in the 2025 class, but my hunch is that might change once the fall comes. Unlike a couple of the skinny edges Michigan landed in 2024 (Lugard Edokpayi, Devon Baxter), Marshall was listed at 6’4″ and 265 lbs. as a recruit and should come in more ready to play, somewhat like Derrick Moore in 2022. Moore was listed at 6’3″, 279 lbs. as a freshman and has slimmed down, but I think Marshall is more athletic. He probably won’t break into the top four of Moore, T.J. Guy, Cam Brandt, and Dominic Nichols, but he should get some playing time to whet our appetites for 2026 and beyond.
63. DE Tyler McLaurin (RS Sr.): Over McLaurin’s first three seasons at Michigan, he played in just five games. He was listed in his third year as a 227 lb. edge player, which wasn’t going to work. This spring he was listed at a reasonable 252 lbs., and while he’s not talented enough to see much playing time on defense, that at least makes him a somewhat viable option in a pinch. The 2024 season saw an uptick in playing time on special teams, where he played in all thirteen games. I expect that to continue in 2025. Last year’s rank: #67.
62. WR Channing Goodwin (RS Fr.): Listed at 6’1″ and 185 lbs., Goodwin returns in 2025 after playing in four games and preserving his redshirt in 2024. He played a little on special teams and a little at receiver. From what we saw in the spring game, I still think Goodwin is a possession receiver at best at this point. He does seem like someone the coaches trust to do the right thing, so I imagine he’ll be a guy who plays quite a bit in 2025 but without getting targeted much.
61. WR Joe Taylor (RS Sr.): Taylor is a former walk-on who was named Special Teams Player of the Year for Michigan in 2024. He does a little bit of everything and returned 4 kickoffs for 69 yards, caught 1 pass for 9 yards, made 4 tackles, and forced 1 fumble. I keep hoping Michigan will find someone else to put deep to return kickoffs because, while Taylor is supposedly one of the fastest players on the team, he just doesn’t have much wiggle or tackle breaking ability. Regardless of whether Michigan finds someone with a little more potential or not, Taylor will undoubtedly play quite a bit on specials.
RETURNING PLAYERS: Benjamin Hall (RS So.), Jordan Marshall (So.), Micah Ka’apana (RS Fr.) NEWCOMERS: Justice Haynes (Jr.), Donovan Johnson (Fr.) DEPARTURES: Cole Cabana (transfer to Western Michigan), Tavierre Dunlap (transfer to Eastern Michigan), Donovan Edwards (NFL Draft), Kalel Mullings (NFL Draft)
OUTLOOK: The 2024 squad looked to have a pretty solid makeup with Donovan Edwards gracing the cover of NCAA ’25 and Kalel Mullings a promising mooseback. And while both had decent seasons – Mullings had 948 yards and 12 touchdowns while Edwards had 589 yards and 4 scores – it was a step down from the years of Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum leading the charge from 2021-2023. Part of that stemmed from the offensive line issues, and part of it was the running backs themselves.
The good news is that true freshman Jordan Marshall, a high-level recruit, was ready to step in and run for 100 yards against Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl after Edwards and Mullings both opted out of playing in the bowl game. Marshall reminds a lot of people of Blake Corum, and he might even have better breakaway speed, at least if you put stock in high school track times. Marshall also showed some toughness in breaking a bunch of tackles, and his combination of skills helped him jump ahead of Benjamin Hall, who is one year older.
Speaking of Hall, the 235 lb. bowling ball managed just 72 rushing yards in his second year, including 16 carries for just 28 yards in the bowl game. He showed some good running skills in the spring game and against Indiana in 2023, but he has been pretty quiet on the field on Saturdays.
Redshirt freshman Micah Ka’apana was very slight as a freshman last season and needed to add weight in the off-season. He does not seem like a likely candidate to be one of the top couple backs in 2025, but he could work his way into being a complementary back or a pass receiving threat out of the backfield. One interesting thing to note about new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey is that his starting running back in 2024, Omarion Hampton, caught 38 passes for 373 yards and 2 touchdowns. Michigan hasn’t had a running back catch that many passes since Chris Perry caught 44 balls in 2003.
Michigan also has reinforcements coming in the form of Justice Haynes, who played for Alabama the past two seasons. Haynes ran 79 times for 448 yards and 7 touchdowns last season as a backup for Jam Miller, and he was a 5-star recruit who boasts both power and speed. While Michigan has had complementary backs in recent years with the power of Haskins/Mullings, the speed of Donovan Edwards, and the power/elusiveness of Blake Corum, the duo of Marshall and Haynes – who I expect to be the top two backs – represents the first time where two similar backs will be able to spell each other. Both were listed in 2024 at 5’11” and 210 pounds, and they each have a good combination of balance, strength, and quickness.
The wild card this spring will be true freshman early enrollee Donovan Johnson, who missed his junior season with a torn ACL. Running backs coach Tony Alford reportedly checked in on Johnson personally to make sure Johnson was back up to speed, and Michigan pursued accordingly. He has not posted a highlight video on Hudl since his sophomore year, so nobody really knows how he looks except people who have been to his games in person. He’s supposedly up to around 215 pounds now, so the major question will be whether he has the speed/agility to be successful at this level.
Overall, it appears to be a Marshall vs. Haynes battle for the top job, but both players will probably see a lot of playing time in 2025. The primary battle this spring will be between Hall, Ka’apana, and Johnson for the third spot.
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.
Burley (ID) Burley WR Gatlin Bair may head to Ann Arbor for the OSU game
2024PROSPECTS
Gatlin Bair – WR – Burley (ID) Burley: Bair is a 6’2″, 195-pounder who is committed to Boise State, who just fired head coach Andy Avalos. Bair is headed on a two-year Mormon mission after high school, so he will basically end up being a 2026 prospect. Bair is also considering Michigan and Oregon, along with BSU. He’s a 4-star, the #10 WR, and #40 overall. This visit is a possibility, but not set in stone at this point.
Zaquan Patterson – S – Hollywood (FL) Chaminade-Madonna: Patterson is a 6’0″, 185 lb. prospect who is committed to Miami. He’s a teammate of 2025 Michigan commit Chris Ewald. Patterson is a 4-star, the #5 safety, and #70 overall.
2024 COMMITS
QB Jadyn Davis RB Micah Ka’apana RB Jordan Marshall WR Channing Goodwin WR I’Marion Stewart TE Hogan Hansen TE Brady Prieskorn OL Blake Frazier OL Jake Guarnera OL Luke Hamilton OL Ben Roebuck OL Andrew Sprague DE Ted Hammond DT Owen Wafle LB Jeremiah Beasley LB Mason Curtis LB Zach Ludwig LB Cole Sullivan CB Jeremiah Lowe
