How Donovan Edwards' mental health journey led him to title game glory
The Michigan Wolverines are national champions due in large part to the play of junior running back Donovan Edwards in the CFP title game, rushing six times for 104 yards and two touchdowns, both from 40-plus yards out in the first quarter.
For Edwards, it was a long overdue breakout and iconic moment after some struggles running the ball throughout the season. But for one night, on the biggest stage possible, he put it all behind him and focused on staying in the moment.
In doing so, he helped set a tone and played a major role in delivering Michigan its first national title since the 1997 season.
“This year I realized that I was stressing myself out and I was putting pressure on myself that I shouldn’t,” Edwards told The Wolverine on the field in Houston. “My therapist talked to me about putting expectations on myself. And you shouldn’t do that because when you don’t receive that expectation that you put on yourself, you’re just going to get into a cluster and a repeated cycle of, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this.’ And if it doesn’t happen, you’re going to be mad about it.
“So today I just relieved myself. I saw my therapist this week. I just let everything be free. I’m not even gonna worry about this. I’m just gonna let God do what he does and just control me and just control me in this game. What a beautiful feeling.”
Edwards is as spiritual as any player on the Michigan roster and cited his relationship with God as a reason why he was able to stay ready in the moment and be patient.
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“I just feel like everything that I’ve been through this year personally, and I’ll be selfish for a second… it’s just been a build-up for what God has in store for me in the future and to be able to have a good game here on the big stage I think it’s just a testament to me staying patient,” Edwards said. “I’m going to continue to give Him the praise and the glory because I know that’s what He wants me to do. And we’ll keep on doing it and as long as we as people continue to know what is going on in our lives and what God has in store for us, we’ll all be successful.
“We’ll all reach the point of where we want to be in life. I just feel like I’ve been through that this year and I just know I’m going to be successful later on in my future because I can always revert to a time where I feel like I was in a dark place. And that’s a blessing because to be successful, you have to go through a dark time to be able to go through a high time.
“I’m blessed for everything that’s gone on for me this year. And now we’re national champions.”
Edwards and his Michigan teammates were not shy about speaking their goals into existence last winter and throughout the season. Now that the Wolverines have eclipsed the mountaintop, he says he has learned a lesson about manifesting goals.
“You just got to work at it if you speak something,” Edwards said. “I believe that words are so powerful that if you speak it, you better back it up and you better keep working towards that goal to be able to be where you want to be. This year, all we said was we wanted to win a national championship. We want to accomplish our goals. We want to win the Big Ten Championship. And all we do is just keep on working because that’s what we spoke.”
