Miami football 2024 signee Marquise Lightfoot projected for big rating boost

Miami football 2024 four-star edge rusher signee Marquise Lightfoot was one of the players mentioned by Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Greg Biggins in his article "Midwest Spotlight: Five big rankings questions entering final 2024 update." Lightfoot is out of Chicago Kenwood Academy.

Lightfoot had two sacks in the All-American Bowl. Miami edge rushers are continuing to outplay their rankings. Rueben Bain earned the 2023 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after being a four-star signee in 2023. Lightfoot and 2024 classmate Booker Pickett Jr. have been exceptional in the postseason All-Star games.

In addition to playing at the Under Armour All-American Game in Orlando, Pickett is in Hawaii this week with five-star 2024 Miami defensive lineman signee Justin Scott playing in the Polynesian Bowl. Pickett had four tackles, t2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, and two quarterback hurries and a forced fumble in the Under Armour All-American Game.

Scott is tied for the highest-ranked 2024 Miami signee with safety Zaquan Patterson in the Rivals rankings. Rivals ranks Lightfoot as the eighth-ranked 2024 Miami signee. Those numbers could go up based on Biggins' analysis. Biggins asked, "How much higher (in the rankings) can Marquise Lightfoot go?"

"Marquise Lightfoot proved that he might have been underrated all cycle long. He’s not poorly rated by any means but after dominating all week in San Antonio he’s due for a ratings bump. The question is just how high can he go and will he get five-star consideration?

It might be tough to get him all the way to five-star status but it’s safe to say that Lightfoot earned his spot among the nation’s top players. Miami has a heck of a defensive line haul on the way."

- Greg Biggins, Rivals

Lightfoot had 33 tackles, four TFLs and two sacks for Chicago Kenwood Academy as a senior in 2023. Rivals ranks Lightfoot as the 86th overall prospect, third player in Illinois and third weakside defensive end in the 2024 class. Rivals has 27 five-star players listed in the 2024 class.

As Biggins states, it would be far too big of a jump for Lightfoot to earn a fifth star. Patterson, Scott and strongside DE Armondo Blount all received five-star rankings from Rivals in the 2024 Miami class. Miami signed an elite defensive line in the 2024 class that should cumulatively be dominant in a few years.