Michigan is coming off of the 2021 football season where it rushed for 3,001 total yards on the ground which was good enough for eighth-best in the entire country. The Wolverines averaged 214 yards-per-game on the ground and there were only eight Power Five teams ahead of the maize and blue.
Tom VanHaaren from ESPN made an article talking about which college teams are recruiting the best on offense. To no surprise, when he got down to the running back position, he ranked Michigan towards the top.
The Wolverines had a ton of success on the ground last season with running backs Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum, while mixing in true freshman Donovan Edwards. The Wolverines’ offensive line won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line, and it’s looking to continue the ground success in the future.
Michigan got a commitment from ESPN 300 running back Cole Cabana, the No. 6 back in the class and the third highest-ranked recruit at the position who has made a commitment. The staff also has a commitment from three-star Ben Hall. Corum and Edwards are only sophomores, while Tavierre Dunlap is a redshirt freshman. Adding Cabana will be a step toward keeping the running back room filled with talent.
Hassan Haskins was a part of the 2018 class which featured Aidan Hutchinson, Cam McGrone, Ryan Hayes, and Jalen Mayfield. Haskins was ranked as a three-star according to 247Sports composite, and he was the 975th-ranked recruit in the country. But Haskins sure surpassed expectations. During his career at Michigan, he rushed for 2,324 yards and 30 scores on the ground. But he really burst onto the scene last year in a starring role for the Wolverines where he ran for 1,327 yards and 20 touchdowns.
During the 2020 cycle, that’s when the Wolverines landed Blake Corum. The 5-foot-8 back that played at St. Francis Academy (Maryland) was a four-star recruit that many teams were after. He chose the Wolverines over Ohio State, Georgia, USC, Ole Miss, Michigan State, and many others. 247Sports composite had Corum as the 129th-ranked recruit in the country and the 12th-best running back.
Corum played sparingly in 2020 splitting reps with Haskins, Chris Evans, and Zach Charbonnet, but in 2021 Corum erupted out of the gate with three-straight 100-yard performances. He ended the season rushing for 951 yards and 11 scores. The speedy back has already been announced on preseason watch lists like the Maxwell Award and the Doak Walker Award for 2022.
In the 2022 recruiting cycle, Michigan may have gotten the best back yet in Donovan Edwards. Edwards played at West Bloomfield (Michigan) and was highly coveted by many colleges in the country. The five-star recruit had his picking of basically any college he wanted to go to like Ohio State, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and many others, but he chose to stay in state and attend the University of Michigan. The composite ranking had Edwards ranked as the 42nd-ranked recruit in the country while being the fourth-best running back.
Edwards worked behind both Corum and Haskins during his freshman season with the maize and blue, but he showed why he was heavily recruited. Edwards carried the rock 35 times for 174 yards, but he showed off how versatile he truly is. The 5-foot-11 back caught the ball 20 times for 265 yards and a score. He even threw a touchdown pass in the Big Ten title game against Iowa.
Also in the 2021 class, Tavierre Dunlap was a three-star running back who figures to get some run during the 2022 season. In the 2022 class, Michigan landed CJ Stokes, a 5-foot-11 three-star recruit who chose the Wolverines over South Carolina.
While he may not be at Michigan any longer, the Wolverines did recruit the former four-star Zach Charbonnet, and he played for the Wolverines for two seasons before transferring to UCLA — where he is now the featured back. He was the 46th-ranked back in the country when Michigan landed him.
Now that the Wolverines have landed four-star Cole Cabana and three-star Ben Hall for the 2023 cycle, the Wolverines should be set at running back for quite some time.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=61042]