Michigan RB Blake Corum named to Maxwell Award preseason watch list
It’s preseason watch list season, and Michigan Wolverines football will have no shortage of players who appear on them heading into the 2022 campaign. To kick things off, junior running back Blake Corum was named to the Maxwell Award preseason watch list Monday. The Maxwell Award is handed out annually to the nation’s top player. Forty three players landed on the preseason watch list.
Corum is coming off a breakout season in which he accumulated 952 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, playing a complementary role to Hassan Haskins, who amassed 1,327 yards and a single-season school-record 20 rushing touchdowns.
Corum played in just 12 games, having missed two full outings with a high ankle sprain, and likely would’ve been a 1,000-yard rusher had he been healthy all season. The 5-8, 200-pounder also added 24 receptions for 141 yards and one score. He returned 12 kickoffs for 304 yards, also starring on special teams. Corum was named third-team All-Big Ten by the coaches in 2021 and given an honorable mention by the media. He was tabbed as Michigan’s Co-Offensive Skill Player of the Year.
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The projected feature back for Michigan this fall, Corum has already been named a preseason All-American by Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. He’s expected to split time with sophomore Donovan Edwards, a candidate to be a breakout star this season after carrying 35 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns and catching 20 passes for 265 yards and one score as a freshman in 2021.
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Corum is at his best in space, and is known for making big plays. Twenty two of his 143 rushing attempts went for 10 or more yards last season, and a whopping 47 percent of his yards came on runs of 15-plus yards, per PFF, showing that Corum doesn’t just get past the first and second levels of the defense — he can run by anybody.
Due to 2020 being a free year of eligibility, Corum could technically play three more seasons of college football, including the 2022 campaign. However, he’s now being pegged as a 2023 NFL Draft prospect, and a top one at the running back position. In Pro Football Focus’ early 2023 NFL Draft big board released in April, Corum checked in as the No. 47 overall player and sixth-best running back.
Two Michigan players have won the Maxwell Award — Tom Harmon in 1940 and Desmond Howard in 1991. Both of those players also won the Heisman Memorial Trophy, the most prestigious individual honor in the sport.
