'Handle your business': Blake Corum delivers speech to Michigan team before MSU game

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football could be out for revenge Saturday night in East Lansing. Not because of the result of any game — the Wolverines destroyed the Spartans 29-7 last season — but due to the unprovoked attacks by MSU players on two Michigan athletes in the tunnel after the 2022 game. U-M players have said this week that the team has the assaults in mind but isn’t focusing on it as a primary motivator.

Michigan senior running back Blake Corum, who rushed for 177 yards and scored 2 touchdowns versus the Spartans last October, addressed the Wolverines with wise words after Tuesday practice.

“Blake talked to us just after practice and said it can be in the back of our heads, but we’re not going to go out there trying to have any revenge, a revenge factor,” graduate center Drake Nugent, a Stanford transfer who will be playing in the series for the first time, said. “We just have to play football and get out of there with a dub.”

Michigan has won three of the last five games in the series. U-M is also 2-1 in East Lansing under ninth-year head coach Jim Harbaugh, the reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year.

RELATED
• Mike Sainristil: ‘Grit’ defines MSU rivalry, and Michigan has a long memory  – ‘The Harbaughs remember’
• Wolverine TV: Mike Sainristil, Michael Barrett talk Michigan football before MSU game

Michigan graduate linebacker Michael Barrett, a fellow captain along with Corum and four others, also spoke to the running back’s message.

“He was just saying, try not to make it too big,” Barrett said. “We all know the hype of the rivalry, the hype of everything that’s been going on, and just try not to make the scene too big, be where your feet are and just prepare the same way. We try not to treat any team differently, any opponent differently or change the way we prepare or our business based on who we’re playing.

“He basically said, handle your business and keep it pushing.”

Nugent will be playing the Spartans for the first time. While he grew up in Colorado, he remembers some images from past Michigan-MSU games.

“I always remember just like the pictures I’d see on the internet of whichever team won with the helmet on [the] Paul [Bunyan Trophy], running out of the tunnel. I don’t know why, but I just love that image,” Nugent said.

The Wolverines are favored by 24.5 points, meaning Vegas oddsmakers strongly believe Paul Bunyan will sport a winged helmet Saturday night and return to Ann Arbor on the team bus. However, Michigan insists it’s not overlooking the Spartans.

“We’re going to get their best shot,” Nugent noted. “I’ve had the opportunity to be on the flip side of this at Stanford the past few years with rivalry games and playing against teams that were favored. You just can’t give them that satisfaction, you can’t overlook them. Just like any other week, you just gotta take it one week at a time, keep the preparation and focus high.”

Goal line runs and Drake Nugent is having ‘a hell of a time’

Corum has been nearly automatic at punching in touchdowns on goal line runs. On his 15 carries from the opponent’s 5-yard line and in, he’s rushed for 12 touchdowns — all 12 of his rushing scores this season.

“Once you get down there, you just start to smell a little blood in the water,” Nugent said of those situations. “Especially if it’s a longer drive, you get in that rhythm. The coaches have done a great job putting us in positions to win — not just our individual battles, but obviously getting that ball in the end zone, especially on the goal line. We’ve been great.”

Six of the Wolverines’ 15 rushing touchdowns from the 5-yard line and in have come in 13 personnel (1 running back, 3 tight ends) with six offensive linemen. Only 11 schools have used that formation at the goal line, with Michigan leading the way with 7 attempts.

“It’s more about when you hear the play call, too, especially if we’re in those 13 packages when we run the ball right at people. You get a little excited, for sure,” Nugent continued. “I love that stuff.”

Nugent has loved his time at Michigan so far in general. He won just six combined games in his final two seasons at Stanford and has already been a part of seven victories in seven games at U-M.

“A lot of fun, actually,” Nugent said, cracking a smile. “It’s weird because some games I’ll come out like, dang, I messed up a few plays. I don’t feel very good, but yet we won like 52-7. It’s weird how that works. Whereas last year, you feel that way, then you lose — it just kind of adds on. I’d say it’s been super fun. It’s been a hell of a time playing here.”