31 days until Michigan football: A wild 2022 season for Kalel Mullings
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
Last season was quite the ride for Michigan senior Kalel Mullings, who rushed for 31 yards and 3 touchdowns and also totaled 12 tackles. He was repping at running back during fall camp, with the Wolverines light on depth at the position, before Nikhai Hill-Green went down with an injury. That stressed the depth at Mullings’ original spot, and he shifted back to defense.
It wasn’t until the week of the Ohio State game that Mullings transitioned back to offense, and he wound up making a play Michigan fans will never forget in the 45-23 victory in Ann Arbor. Senior Blake Corum went down with a knee injury the previous week, and the Wolverines needed a short-yardage back (and overall depth) to step up. Junior Donovan Edwards was also dealing with a hand injury, playing against the Buckeyes at well under 100 percent.
Mullings’ jump pass on 3rd and 1 in the third quarter was a Corum play, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh revealed after the Wolverines won, but Mullings executed it. Mullings was stuffed on 3rd-and-short earlier in the game, and that’s when he knew they’d go back to that look but pull out the trick play.
Mullings got too close to the line of scrimmage, so he had trouble seeing downfield. Luckily, his underthrown pass found tight end Luke Schoonmaker for the first down. As former Michigan co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss said later, Mullings played that one like a true defensive player, not hitting Schoonmaker in stride so that the Wolverines could eat up a few extra minutes of clock and eventually score anyway.
Mullings scored 2 touchdowns in Michigan’s 43-22 win over Purdue in the Big Ten championship game, and one in the Fiesta Bowl against TCU.
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It was in the CFP semifinal against the Horned Frogs, though, that Mullings was a part of one of the Wolverines’ biggest miscues of the 51-45 setback. He was lined up as an off-set fullback to the left of junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who fumbled trying to hand it off to Mullings at the goal line, with TCU recovering. That came one play after senior wideout Roman Wilson appeared to score but the officials marked him down at the 1-yard line.
Mullings is still at running back now, heading into the 2023 season. He’s in the mix for Michigan’s third running back spot behind Corum and Edwards, but has much more competition this time around. Sophomore CJ Stokes, along with freshmen Benjamin Hall and Cole Cabana, are all in the mix.
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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