Donovan Edwards shares torn feelings following Blake Corum injury

Donovan Edwards had a prime opportunity following Blake Corum’s injury near the end of the 2022 season. But the Michigan running back ran with it, no pun intended, and did what he had to do amid the star running back’s unavailability.

Both Edwards and Corum are back for the 2023 campaign. Corum opted to return rather than go to the NFL Draft, so Michigan has one of the best duos, if not the best, in the country.

Edwards revealed the mindset last year once Corum went down.

“My thing is like he knows, like Coach (Mike) Hart does such a tremendous job of preparing us if one man goes down, the next one has to step up,” Edwards said on Bussin’ With The Boys. “(There were) times during the season where I was hurt off of my torn patellar tendon, where (Corum) had to get like 30 carries a game. Like we don’t want him to get 30 carries a game (because) those things add up … 

“And like when he went down against Illinois, you know, I had a broken thumb the previous week versus Nebraska. And I’m like, I’m thinking to myself, like how am I going to be able to carry the load with one hand?” 

Edwards talked about overcoming his own injuries. He was limited towards the end of the season but still had a solid game against Ohio State, Purdue in the Big Ten Championship and in the playoff loss to TCU.

“He was talking about reverting back to my old ways because like I had dislocated my thumb in a playoff game, or going to a playoff game I dislocated in practice,” Edwards said. “And I’m like, this is something like I’m used to. I always go through adversity and I will always rise from this.”

Basically, it was “this stinks but someone has to take the lead.”

“So that’s kind of like what was going on (in my head),” Edwards said. “I hate to see him go down, but somebody has to step up.”

Corum agreed.

“He sure did,” Corum said.

Edwards finished the season with 140 carries for 991 yards, seven touchdowns, 7.1 yards per carry, 18 catches, 200 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions.

Now Edwards and Corum are back together for one final season and it could be the best one yet. Michigan has a national title in its sights.