With all the talk about running back carries in recent weeks, Michigan is planning to work another player into the rotation this week.

True freshman Micah Ka’apana could make his season debut for the Wolverines in their game Saturday against Northwestern (3:30 p.m., FS1), head coach Sherrone Moore said this week.

On Monday, Moore raved about Ka’apana’s “dynamic speed” and said Michigan has plans to “put it on display a little bit this week,” signaling plans to get the Hawaii native touches as the season winds down.

Under revised NCAA rules, football players can appear in up to four games without burning a redshirt. Ka’apana has not played this season; instead spending much of it on the scout team.

“He’ll be implemented into the game plan a little bit more this week,” Moore said on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show. “Very shifty, great contact balance. He’s small but he isn’t little. The dude plays with power — he’s strong — but he’s super fast.”

More: Ben Hall views himself as Michigan’s next RB1, and wants more carries to prove it

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Ka’apana is a former three-star recruit from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, where he put up big numbers during his final two seasons. The Hawaii native rushed for 723 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior, and topped 1,000 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior in 2022, while also catching 11 passes for 192 yards and four touchdowns.

Michigan (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) has spent the bulk of its disappointing season leaning on two backs, Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards. Redshirt freshman Benjamin Hall saw some playing time during the non-conference portion of the schedule, then got four carries in the loss to Indiana on Nov. 9.

Another true freshman, Jordan Marshall, has yet to receive a carry despite appearing in two games as a kick returner on special teams. Marshall will continue in that role this week, Moore said, while the Michigan staff takes a closer look at Ka’apana.

“He had a game in high school where he had five carries and five touchdowns,” Moore said. “So the dude is really, really dynamic. Really excited to see what he does with the ball in his hands.”

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Somehow there are just two weeks remaining in the 2024 college football regular season. While Michigan’s season has been over for all intents and purposes for several weeks now, there’s still the matter of bowl eligibility to play for. A win over Northwestern on Saturday or against Ohio State will take the Wolverines to a bowl.

There’s been no consensus yet on where Michigan will land, but downstream ripples will be felt following the results of this weekend’s games. Specifically, most projections have four Big Ten teams in the playoff field, thought it will be fascinating to see how many are included once Ohio State and Indiana square off. If Indiana gets hosed by the committee, Michigan would be bumped down a peg because of it.

As a general reminder, here are the seven Big Ten bowl tie-ins:

• Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (vs. SEC)
• ReliaQuest Bowl (vs. SEC)
• Duke’s Mayo Bowl (vs. ACC)
• Music City Bowl (vs. SEC)
• Pinstripe Bowl (vs. ACC)
• Guaranteed Rate Bowl (vs. Big 12)
• Quick Lane Bowl (vs. MAC)

Also keep in mind that the four newest teams to the Big Ten are still eligible to play in the former Pac-12 tie-ins until a restructuring occurs. Nearly all projections nationally do have that scenario taking place.

Here’s where several outlets have the Wolverines headed.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm): Music City Bowl vs. Missouri

Palm’s projection remained identical to last week with the Wolverines traveling to Nashville to take on Mizzou. Like most others, he has four Big Ten teams currently in the CFP field. Interestingly, Palm has Boise State receiving the No. 4 seed and getting a first-round bye as he has them ranked higher than his projected Big XII champion Colorado.

The Sporting News (Bill Bender): Las Vegas Bowl vs. Colorado

Bender goes off the board this week by having Michigan travel to Nevada for a bowl game that the Big Ten has no ties to. While this has happened occasionally historically, it would certainly come as a surprise. Even more surprisingly, Bender has two non-Big Ten schools in the Music City Bowl as he projects Duke and LSU to head to Nashville. If this were to happen, Michigan would take on an extremely disappointed Colorado team, as Bender has them missing the playoffs to projected Big 12 champion BYU.

Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan): Pinstripe Bowl vs. Duke

Similar to Palm at CBS Sports, Lassan didn’t change his projection for Michigan one bit from last week to this week. He again has the Wolverines facing off with Duke in Yankee Stadium. Also similar to last week, Athlon has Nebraska jumping over Michigan to receive the bid to the Music City Bowl. I would expect this to be shaken up next week, however, should Indiana fall to Ohio State as Lassan has the Hoosiers as the No. 11 seed and hanging on for dear life despite being undefeated.

247Sports (Brad Crawford): Pinstripe Bowl vs. Pitt

Crawford has Michigan falling down a rung on the bowl ladder this week by having the Wolverines headed to the Pinstripe Bowl to face Pitt. Last week, Crawford had Michigan in the Music City Bowl. The common theme amongst bowl projections is to have Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, and Indiana in the CFP while Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa are spread among the Citrus, ReliaQuest, and Mayo Bowl in some fashion. Michigan and Nebraska have typically been fighting for the Music City Bowl. Where 247 differs is they have Nebraska all the way up in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, relegating Minnesota to the Music City Bowl and Michigan to the Pinstripe Bowl.

The Action Network (Brett McMurphy): Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke

McMurphy paints the rosiest picture for Michigan to date as he has the Wolverines headed to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on Duke in a quasi-road game on January 3rd. Of the five projections we dug into, he’s the only one to have Michigan placed above Minnesota in the Big Ten pecking order. Interestingly, he also doesn’t have Nebraska reaching bowl eligibility. The Cornhuskers are currently 5-5 with Wisconsin and Iowa left on the schedule.

EAST LANSING – Michigan State survived another tough test at home but not without an injury concern moving forward.

Freshman guard Jase Richardson injured his left ankle with a little more than a minute to play in Tuesday’s 83-75 win against Samford.

“It was a significant, it looked like, sprain but he was happy in the locker room so I think he’s going to be OK,” coach Tom Izzo said after the game. “I just don’t know how long he’ll be out but he’s going to miss a few days, there’s no question about that.”

With the Spartans (4-1) leading by 11, Richardson appeared to roll his ankle while defending Josh Holloway on a missed layup down the late. He remained on the floor in pain under the basket as the Bulldogs (4-2) took advantage and hit a 3-pointer before officials finally noticed the injury and stopped play amid complaints from fans. Richardson walked off the floor with help and made it to the bench while being looked at by trainer Nick Richey.

Richardson was receiving treatment during the time reporters spoke with players in the locker room after the game.

“I’m not a doctor but it seems to be a sprain. … I’m sure they’ll X-Ray it and MRI it, they’ll go through it,” Izzo said. “I told him he could take a day off but not two and he said that’s fine with him.”

Richardson, the son of former standout Spartan and NBA star Jason Richardson, has been impressive early this season. The former four-star recruit has scored in double figures three of the first five games and tied his season high with 12 points on Tuesday. He also chipped in three rebounds, three assists, four steals and a block in 25 minutes.

“I thought Jase Richardson was phenomenal,” Izzo said. “He just looked comfortable to me. It’s going to take me a little time to understand him, it’s going to take him a little time to understand things but he’s very smooth and doesn’t panic and did a hell of a job.”

Through the first two weeks of the season, Richardson is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.4 points per game while shooting 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the floor and making all nine free throws. He also has only one turnover with 11 assists while looking a lot more advanced than an average freshman.

“The moment’s never too big for him,” Izzo said.

Richardson has already carved out a big role for the Spartans, whose next test will come in the Maui Invitational. They open the three-game tournament against Colorado (4-0) on Monday and will face either two-time defending champion and No. 2 UConn or Memphis in the second game. The other half of the bracket includes No. 3 Auburn, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 10 North Carolina. Richardson’s availability will likely be a major factor in Michigan State’s success on the trip.

“He said it kind of wasn’t as bad after that little bit of time went by,” senior guard Jaden Akins recalled Richardson saying about the injury, “so hopefully he’ll be good because we need him.”