Field Yates lauds Blake Corum's competitiveness, character, projects him as mid-round NFL Draft pick

Blake Corum might not be the best or first running back taken in the 2024 NFL Draft. But ESPN draft analyst Field Yates thinks he’s probably the one a team or coach is most likely to fall in love with.

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Yates ran through his thoughts on the former Michigan running back. Though he expects Corum to land in the middle rounds — as early as Round 3 or as late as Round 5 — he’s pretty confident whatever team ends up selecting him will love the player they’re getting.

“But I can guarantee this about Blake: Soon, if not already, players are going to begin their pre-draft visits. Each team can visit, they can have 30 players come and visit them. And I guarantee you that coaches are going to meet with Blake and they’re going to fall in love,” Yates said. “He’s one of those guys that’s going to be impossible for teams not to fall in love with, because of the competitiveness, because of the football character, because of the toughness, because of everything that he brings to the table beyond the player, Blake Corum will end up being a coaches favorite. So, I think third to fifth round range, somewhere in between those two spots makes sense for Blake Corum”

Corum was brutally efficient in his final two years at Michigan, playing in 27 games and scoring 45 rushing touchdowns while averaging 5.4 yards per carry and just more than 100 yards per game. He was a Heisman Trophy contender in 2022 prior to a knee injury in the penultimate game keeping him out.

And while he had the fortune of running behind one of the best offensive lines in the country the past three seasons, Corum is more than just a beneficiary from the work those five did, Yates said.

“As far as on the field, I thought that his lateral agility in the hole was very good, he can make defenders miss,” Yates said. “I understand it was a back-to-back Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line that he was largely running behind, but there’s two parts of the equation, there’s what the line blocks for you and then what you pick up on your own. I thought that Blake maybe got sometimes under credited for some of his success this past year because he’s got five potentially draftable offensive linemen or six on the roster right now.”

Corum doesn’t project as a game-altering running back at the next level, but has the well-rounded skillset and mentality to eat up carries and be a productive piece of NFL backfields for years to come.

And when it comes to Corum, what he brings off the field might do just as much to help him get drafted as anything else.

“Character is a difficult thing to assess just off of film, because there’s not that much that you can see,” Yates said. “But if you don’t realize that Blake Corum was an indispensable part of that Michigan team this past year, then you clearly weren’t watching those 15 games because Blake certainly felt like one those guys that as he went, so went most of the offense.”