Joe Michalski

A two-time captain, Michalski helped lead St. Thomas Aquinas to a Kansas State Championship as they beat Wichita Northwest for the title. He blocked for an offense that rushed for 4,584-yards and an average of 8.0-yards on each carry. The offense also threw for 1,167-yards for a total offense of 5,751-yards. He was just awarded by the Kansas Football Coaches Association the honor of All-Senior Kansas Top 11 Player. He is also on the Wichita Eagle Top 11 players in Kansas and a first-team selection on the Topeka Capitol Journal All-State team. Michalski earned his second straight team award as the Outstanding Offensive Lineman. He is also a two-time all-league player and back-to-back KPreps 5A offensive line all-state player. Sports in Kansas has put Michalski as all-non-senior the last two years. Michalski was Top 11 all classes in 2017. He guided St. Thomas Aquinas to 23 wins over his final two seasons, including an unbeaten 12-0 title-winning season in 2018, and also helped the Saints finish as the Kansas Class 5A runner-up in 2017. Michalski also played baseball and participated in track and field. He was an honor roll student who completed 30 hours of volunteer service every year in high school.

Scouting Report: Top quality is persistence as he never quits. If he misses his assignment, he does not quit and sulk, but finds someone else to block. You see him on some plays miss and then keep chasing the defender until he can block him. He is strong in the upper body and that is what he uses for most of his success. Like most all high school linemen, he plays too high and will need to get his pad level lower, but he moves his feet and I like him as a guard because of his ability to block on the run and pull. He has a good quick step to pull and then when he runs upfield he more resembles a back turning upfield and he clears out the hole well. In straight ahead situations and pass pro he can polish up technique as sometimes it is rough. However, he gets the job done on physical ability and that persistence. At the college level he will need technique and Josh Henson is great with teaching that. He’s a winner coming off good high school seasons every year and the state championship this past fall.