Michigan football is out to a 5-0 start to the year and similar to last season, the Wolverines have really relied on the running attack to keep the offense going. The maize and blue have the 13th-ranked run game that averages 221.8 yards-per-game.
Michigan is coming off of a nice win against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. The Wolverines just gashed the Hawkeyes’ then-ranked No. 6 run defense that allowed less than 100 yards-per-game, for 172 yards.
Michigan has a few guys that can tote the rock like sophomore Donovan Edwards and we have even seen flashes from freshman C.J. Stokes, but the man that keeps the train rolling is Blake Corum.
Corum is the fourth-leading rusher in all of football with 611 yards. Corum also leads the nation with 10 touchdowns scored and 60 points scored.
After receiving a total of 34 carries in the first three games, the junior back carried the ball 30 times against Maryland and then 29 times last week against Iowa. Corum’s coach, and former Michigan legend, Mike Hart joked that Corum wouldn’t receive as many carries as he did during his college career at Michigan, but while he doesn’t want Corum taking the abuse of 30 carries a game, Hart acknowledges that Michigan will do whatever it takes to win.
“I told him he’s not gonna break my records,” said Hart. “But, I tell the kids, they know, we’ll do what we have to win. So, do I want to do 30? No, I want to get Donovan more carries, C.J. more carries. But we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to get to the win. So just feel like sometimes it’s best.”
Corum bulked up this past offseason and put on 10-pounds of weight. Hart was asked if he thought that Corum could handle the extra workload due to him adding weight. Hart shrugged and said he wasn’t sure, but he believes that Corum could carry the ball 30 times every game.
“Maybe, maybe not? I don’t know,” said Hart. “You know, I think that 205, 210, 212 — what’s the difference? But I know he can carry about 30 times a game.”
There is a lot of comparisons between both Hart and Corum. Hart admits that Corum acts like what he did back in his playing day and that both of them have a special relationship. But, beyond that, both are smaller backs. Hart was 5-foot-9 and Corum is 5-foot-8, but both played much bigger than they are. Neither goes down after first contact and both would keep their feet moving. Coach Hart doesn’t believe there is any benefit to being a small running back in college, but instead, he says that if you’re good, you’re good. He believes that Corum should be talked about as the Doak Walker Award winner and should be in the Heisman conversation.
“I just think that whether you’re big, whether you’re small, if you’re good, you’re good,” said Hart. “And he’s good. He should be a guy that’s gonna be
talked about for the Doak Walker, for the Heisman. We move as Blake moves. He’s a special player. I just love that kid.”
Blake Corum and the Michigan Wolverines will be back in action on Saturday against Indiana at Noon EDT on FOX.
[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=63798]