ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Donovan Edwards had a time early in the offseason where he thought his name was going to be the primary one called this upcoming season. But a funny thing happened on the way to 2023: Blake Corum decided to come back to Michigan football for another year instead of going to the NFL.
This wasn’t part of some premeditated plan that was widely known inside of Schembechler Hall. When Edwards found out Corum would return for his senior season, it caught him just as off guard as everyone else.
“Oh, hell yeah, it was a surprise!” Edwards said. “He was coming off such a fantastic year: 1,400, almost 1,500 (yards) going into, was it the 11th game? So he could have been close to like, 2,000. So I’m expecting him to go to the NFL. But, he told me like two or three hours before he was coming back — (mouths to himself) — ‘Gotta wait another year!’
“Well, I’m very grateful for it, though, you know, because it gives me another opportunity, the way that I see it to like, learn, to continue to grow, to help us help each other, complement each other. And for him to come back to, I know, like, we’re going to be very successful, because we’re bringing back the best running back duo in the country again. So I’m very grateful. And I’m blessed that he’s coming back. But, you know — dang, go to the league!”
The good news is that Jim Harbaugh’s plan of “everybody eats” doesn’t mean a diminished role for Edwards with Corum returning.
Edwards recognizes that while the two do have many similarities, there are also a lot of things that he can do that Corum cannot, and vice versa. Because of that, both should have plenty of opportunities in 2023.
“Absolutely. Because the way I look at it is like, we both can do the same thing, but we also do it in a different way,” Edwards said. “I always like to look at it as he does things better than I do and there’s some things that I may do better than he does. So it’s like we complement each other. It’s like, we’re both very versatile, we’re both very fast, both very elusive. And there’s things that we both bring to the table that one another could do very well.
“And that’s not to say that he can’t catch the ball — he catches the ball very well. That’s not to say that I can’t like work on making a safety miss in the second level, because that’s my focus of this offseason. So there’s definitely things that we both bring to the table, bring to the table for each other, to make each other better. And we’re both working on it this offseason, going into the season.”
Among those opportunities for both this year could be seeing them both on the field at the same time. It’s something that Edwards wants to see himself, and given his own particular skill set, he feels he’ll be difficult to take off the field.
“The way I look at it is the best 11 players will be on the field,” Edwards said. “And whoever that is at that time, whatever is best for the offense and for the team, it will have to be that player. And I respect that 100%. But the coaches know what I can bring to the table and for sure confident that they would utilize my skill set to the highest potential and allow me and for every single person in the offense to help the team win. Because that’s what’s important.”
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