What Donovan Edwards’ return means for Michigan in 2024

Many are waiting to see if Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will stay in Ann Arbor or return to the NFL to coach following the Wolverines’ impressive national championship run and several key players declaring for the NFL Draft.

But one thing that’s certain for the Wolverines is that running back Donovan Edwards will be back for Michigan.

Edwards announced his decision on Monday, which led to a discussion between On3’s Andy Staples and The Wolverine‘s Clayton Sayfie on how big of an impact Edwards’ return means for the program.

“That is big, I know he didn’t have the year that everyone expected him to have and he didn’t revolutionize the position like he said he might. But at the same time, I mean this dude came back and probably thought Blake Corum was gonna be in the NFL this year,” Sayfie said. “I think things just didn’t work out as well he would have liked them this year and he was coming off two pretty serious injuries that required surgery last offseason. So I think a healthy offseason for him’s going to be big.”

Edwards played the majority of the 2022 season with a partially torn patellar tendon, also injuring his right hand against Nebraska which resulted in surgery. But that didn’t stop him from having a breakout season with 1,191 all-purpose yards and nine total touchdowns as a complimentary piece to Corum and the primary running back following his season-ending injury.

His production took a drop in 2023, rushing for just 497 yards and five scores during Michigan’s national championship campaign. He did have his strongest performance of the season in the national title game, rushing for a season-high 104 yards and two touchdowns, but according to Sayfie, he may to perform at that same level more often in 2024.

“This is an offense that we don’t know who the quarterback’s gonna be. It could be a younger guy, it could be an Alex Orji or Jadyn Davis the freshman and I think they’re gonna have to rely more on the run game, or as much as they have, and it’s huge to have depth there,” Sayfie explaied. “So now you have Donovan Edwards, Kalel Mullings who we saw play pretty well this year at different points. A top 100 guy in Jordan Marshall out of Ohio that’s coming in, so they have depth and other guys I’m not naming. But they have depth there at running back, that’s big.”

The Wolverines’ offensive is losing various key offensive linemen and playmakers like Corum, quarterback JJ McCarthy, and top wideout Roman Wilson. Thankfully Michigan’s defense is not getting as decimated as the offense, but regardless from a production and leadership standpoint overall, Edwards should have a major impact next season.

“Rod Moore comes back on defense at the safety spot along with Makari Paige, those are really big ones, Josiah Stewart at the EDGE spot. So there’s a lot of talent on that defense, some uncertainty on the offense that I think they’ll be able to piece together and I think Michigan may be, depending on how everything shakes out here, they may be one of the more active top tier teams in the transfer portal in the spring just cause you didn’t know what some of these were gonna do,” Sayfie said.

Michigan’s future is still largely dependent on Harbaugh’s decision regarding his future. But regardless if he stays or goes, it will be intriguing to watch Edwards potentially be the focal point of the Wolverines’ offense as they look to defend their national championship.