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Canes begin recruiting season with a bang: A 6-7, 4-star ATH flips from Michigan to Miami

The Miami Hurricanes’ losing season has not slowed down Mario Cristobal’s recruiting ability.

Only three days after failing to qualify for a bowl game with a season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers, Miami made a major addition to its Class of 2023 on Tuesday, flipping Collins Acheampong from the Michigan Wolverines.

Michigan originally beat out Miami to land the four-star athlete’s commitment back in July, but the Hurricanes pried him away from the Wolverines just four days before they’re set to play in the 2022 Big Ten Championship Game.

Acheampong is a fascinating addition, both because of his backgrounds and physical gifts. Acheampong is 6-foot-7 and originally from Ghana. He moved to the United States in 2019 to pursue a basketball career, gave football a shot for one year as a freshman and now is the No. 221 overall prospect in the Class of 2023, accoridng to the 247Sports composite rankings.

After his old school shuttered its football team because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Acheampong went two years without playing the sport before popping back onto college coaches’ radars with an intriguing showing at an Under Armour Next Camp in March and the scholarship offers started to pour in.

Acheampong was also considering the LSU Tigers back in the summer. He took an official visit to Coral Gables in June.

Acheampong is mostly being recruited as an edge rusher, which is where he mostly played this year at at Santa Margarita in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. As a senior playing for the first time in several years, Acheampong logged 14 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks in just four games. He also plays some tight end.

For the Hurricanes, Acheampong is a bet on potential and a trust in Cristobal’s coaching staff’s ability to mold raw players into stars. Already in the 2023 recruiting cycle, Miami has landed commitments from three-star tight ends Jackson Carver and Reid Mikeska — neither of whom had played high school football before last year — and three-star LaSalle tackle Frankie Tinilau, who moving to South Florida from Australia for his senior year.

Like those three, Acheampong came to football later in life — Carver was orally committed to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for lacrosse, Mikeska was always a basketball player and Tinilau grew up playing rugby — and has unique athletic tools because of it. At 254 pounds, he has good enough size to play defensive line, but moves well enough to still be a legitimate basketball recruit, too.

With Acheampong in the fold, the Hurricanes’ recruiting 2023 class sits at No. 10 the country. He’s the 11th blue-chip recruit in the class and the second defensive lineman, joining elite Bradenton IMG Academy edge rusher Jayden Wayne.

Players can begin signing national letters of intent next month during the early signing period.