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WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. — On a gloomy Wednesday afternoon in September that more resembles a mid-October day, four-star running back Donovan Edwards found himself wearing a West Bloomfield (MI) Lakers uniform for the second-day in a row. A week-plus ago, it seemed that his senior season was lost, canceled due to the coronavirus.
But the governor reversed course, thus so did the MHSAA, and Edwards will get to suit up for his final season of high school, with his season opener coming on Sept. 18 at Oak Park.
While Edwards is a known commodity nationally — with schools such as Michigan, MSU, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas A&M and others coming after him — as practice ended, his head coach, former Michigan wide receiver Ron Bellamy, chided the offense for an abysmal performance in their second practice back. Though he acknowledged it’s a work in progress, ‘I don’t ever want to see that again,’ Bellamy scowled as the whole team looked on from the West Bloomfield track.
Edwards seemed to pull his weight, but he finds himself just as culpable. Thus, as soon as the practice-ending meeting concluded, he pulled his offensive teammates aside, galvanizing the group while calling out its shortcomings on Wednesday.
“See what a leader he is?” Bellamy remarked to WolverinesWire as Edwards found himself in the middle of a scrum of players. It’s something that evident to anyone who has eyes at this juncture, but it’s also a far cry from where Edwards was when we first met back in the summer of 2018, when he was a precocious sophomore with an early Michigan offer.
There are very few things you can question about Edwards — where he’ll end up going to school being chief among them — but his heart and work ethic aren’t among them. So what’s caused him to step up in such a manner? To become a leader of his team? An unquestioned voice?
It’s not his accolades or a personal quest for glory. It’s team accountability and knowing that he’s never been a part of a high school team that’s accomplished its primary objective.
“What’s really driven it is every single year I’ve been here, we’ve come up short,” Edwards told WolverinesWire. “My freshman year, we lost in the state championship, 3-2. I was the only freshman – sophomore year, I broke my ankle. I didn’t get to do too much. Last year we lost to Belleville. It’s like so many little things about this team, and we just beat ourselves at a certain point. I’m just trying to be the best leader I can, that’s what I can say.”
And Edwards will do whatever it takes to help his team win.
As the No. 1 player in the state of Michigan, according to 247Sports’ proprietary rankings, you’d think that he’d be resting on his laurels. Nationally renowned coaches like Ohio State’s Ryan Day or Alabama’s Nick Saban not only called him frantically during the offseason, attempting to lure him to their schools, but they both dropped into the Oakland County, Michigan high school in the dead of winter, further illustrating the national interest.
While he might be a running back — the second-best in the country, behind only OSU commit TreVeyon Henderson, per 247Sports — he’s much more versatile than your average tailback.
In practice, we saw him play anywhere from back to wideout to wildcat quarterback. And most of the time, he was unstoppable — a force to be reckoned with, no matter where you put him on the field.
That versatility is why coaches want him on their team and not someone else’s just as much as his leadership skills. And Edwards isn’t afraid to flaunt his God-given abilities met with hard work.
“I feel like I bring everything to the table,” Edwards said. “I run between tackles, I can run the ball outside. You can put me in at receiver, I’ll run any route you want me to run. I know how to command an offense, I know how to make line calls, I know how to read the 3-technique, the D-end, the linebackers. I know what fronts are what, I know how teams are gonna come out. Whatever team can put in my way – we can do anything.”
As far as his recruitment is concerned, while Michigan has a commanding lead in the 247Sports Crystal Ball at this juncture — no other school currently has any picks — he’s still uncertain of where he’ll end up.
Several schools are still coming after him hard, but there isn’t anything out there that makes Edwards feel compelled to pull the trigger for one school. Ohio State seemed like the likely choice back in February, but once the pandemic hit and Henderson committed to the Buckeyes, sight unseen, all bets were off.
For now, he’s continuing to field calls, weigh his options, while he tries to make a decision by Signing Day.
“I hear from all types of schools,” Edwards said. “I hear from Michigan, I hear from Penn State, I hear from Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama, I hear from Florida, Florida State. I hear from a bunch of schools but I’m just blessed to be in this situation. Just blessed to be able to continue to be out here playing football. Continue to be out here being the best leader, the best football player I can be.”
For Michigan’s sake, while an elite, in-state prospect not choosing to go to school in Ann Arbor doesn’t seem optimal, considering where it was this winter, that the Wolverines are solidly in-play is welcome news.
It appeared as late as February or March that the hometown school was behind in his recruitment. But, suddenly, there was something of a shift, and the maize and blue weren’t just back in it, they seemingly became the team to beat.
While that notion may be somewhat premature, it, regardless, was a seismic shift in Edwards’ recruitment, made possible by an all-hands-on-deck approach, and an honest one, at that.
“I can say nothing really has happened – I can say through all this time, we’ve continued to meet,” Edwards said. “Coach Jay, Jim Harbaugh, Coach Gattis – we’ve continued to build a solid relationship. They’ve told me things I need to hear, things I don’t need to hear. They’re always keeping it strong, keeping it 100 with me. For Michigan, they’re high in my recruitment.”
While the budding relationships between Edwards and the coaches as well as the current 2021 Michigan commits seems like it would have something of an advantage, the incoming Wolverines pledges aren’t special — in that, they aren’t the only ones from colleges across the country making their pitch to join them.
Once Edwards knows what will click, it won’t be his future teammates that lure him. It’ll be having weighed his options and realizing what fits him best.
“I could say lots of schools have their commits trying to recruit me and whatnot, but I don’t buy into that at all,” Edwards said. “I’m a person that – my choice is my choice. I’ve gotta coach (in Ron Bellamy) – he showed me everything; he made me weigh the pros and cons of every single school. Whatever decision is my decision.”
Other contenders
Georgia
Perhaps the biggest threat to Michigan for Edwards is Georgia, where he’s developed a strong relationship with Bulldogs running backs coach Dell McGee — and where he managed to take a visit just before coronavirus-induced quarantines took effect.
Asked about his relationship with the coaches and his overall recruitment by the school in Athens, Edwards could do nothing but rave about the staff as well as their track record.
That said, the staff has some lofty expectations of the West Bloomfield tailback.
“Georgia’s Georgia! Georgia – Go Dawgs, most definitely!” Edwards said. “My relationship with Coach McGee, Coach Smart – they’re hitting me up all times of the day. They real, they real great people. They understand the job, they understand what they can do with me, honest with what they can do with me. The program by itself – I can come in there and play with Kendall Milton. They have a great history. They just had D’Andre Swift drafted. Coach McGee compares me to D’Andre all the time. They say I could be like a better player than D’Andre Swift – that’s just what it is.”
Oklahoma
Another school that poses a considerable threat is Oklahoma, as Lincoln Riley has make Edwards a priority in the 2021 class.
However, he wasn’t able to make the trip to Norman before the lockdowns, so there’s a lot more unknown when it comes to the Sooners.
“I’ll probably try to get out there unofficially,” Edwards said. “If I can’t do an unofficial, I understand that. But Oklahoma is definitely a place of interest for me.”
MSU
When we spoke to Edwards in February, he said he was looking forward to getting to know more about what new Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker would bring to the table.
So, what has he learned about the Spartans?
“Not too many new things,” Edwards said. “I can say their recruiting class for 2021 is a very special class. If I’m a part of that, we can make things happen.”