The Wolverines head into 2023 with a plenty of hype and multiple projections for Michigan to not only get back to the College Football Playoff, but also to make it to the national championship.
A big reason the maize and blue stock is at an all-time high is Michigan returns just about every playmaker on the offensive side of the ball. The Wolverines get at least one more season out of starter J.J. McCarthy at quarterback and Michigan returns both running backs, Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards.
Corum had a Heisman-caliber year in 2022, but it was cut short by an injury against Illinois. Donovan Edwards took the offense by storm and had three straight huge games. Having both healthy in 2023 is gigantic news for Michigan and opposing defenses will be scratching their heads.
Plenty of people believe Michigan has the best backfield in the Big Ten or maybe even the country. One of those people is Brad Crawford.
Brad Crawford, who is with 247Sports, ranked the top six backfields heading into the 2023 season. He ranked Michigan No. 1 over Ohio State and Penn State.
Crawford talked about why Michigan has the best backfield heading into 2023:
Corum was one of the Heisman front-runners last season before an injury kept him limited in Michigan’s big win over Ohio State. He registered eight straight 100-yard games at one point and scored a touchdown in every contest except for the finale. Edwards nearly toppled 1,000 yards as well and averaged 7.1 yards per carry as RB2. Over his final three games against Ohio State, Purdue (Big Ten Championship) and TCU (College Football Playoff), Edwards notched 520 yards, including a 216-yard outburst against the Buckeyes. Corum and Edwards galloped their way to 339 yards rushing and four touchdowns against Penn State, making minced meat of the Nittany Lions’ front. Corum accumulated 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns in essentially 11 games since he only played a series against the Buckeyes. This Michigan rushing attack is a two-headed beast and no Power Five team in college football comes close to matching this level of returning production with two ballcarriers. Michigan has other talent, too, but these two are the nation’s best.
I personally ranked the top 20 Big Ten running backs heading into the season and Blake Corum was No. 1 on my list with Donovan Edwards not too far down. Crawford and I had similar thinking when it comes to the Big Ten running backs.
Here was how Crawford ranked the top six:
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