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Michigan RB Blake Corum, QB J.J. McCarthy named to Maxwell Award watch list

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•07/31/23•

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J.J. McCarthy Blake Corum
(Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

The Maxwell Award released its preseason watch list, and two Michigan Wolverines football standouts were among the 86 players to make the cut, senior running back Blake Corum and junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy. The award is handed out annually to the nation’s most outstanding player and has been around since 1937.

McCarthy and Corum are two of 11 Big Ten players to make the list. Ohio State (wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka) and Wisconsin (quarterback Tanner Mordecai and running back Braelon Allen) are the only other Big Ten programs to have multiple members. Arizona, Arkansas, Boise State, BYU, Florida State, Kansas, LSU, Ohio State, South Alabama, South Carolina, Syracuse, Texas, Washington, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin are the only other schools besides Michigan to have two players appear on the list.

The Big Ten released its annual preseason honors list last week, featuring five players from each of the East and West divisions. Both McCarthy and Corum were named.

Corum is coming off an outstanding junior campaign for Michigan and stunned the college football world by returning for one more season. He was a unanimous All-American, Michigan’s first at running back since Bob Chappuis in 1947, rushing for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns. Corum was awarded the Chicago Tribune Silver Football (Big Ten’s best player) and finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting despite only playing 10 full games and missing the end of the year with a knee injury.

McCarthy, meanwhile, completed 208 of his 322 pass attempts for 2,719 yards and 22 touchdowns with 5 interceptions in 2022, his first year as the Wolverines’ starter behind center. He was named third-team All-Big Ten.

Michigan has had two players win the award — Tom Harmon in 1940 and Desmond Howard in 1991. Both Wolverines won the Heisman Trophy those same seasons. Michigan’s third Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson (1997), did not win the Maxwell Award, which was given to Tennessee’s Peyton Manning that season.

Three others with Michigan ties were also named to the 2023 watch list: Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara, Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton and Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy. McNamara played four seasons at U-M before leaving for Iowa last December. He was Michigan’s backup signal-caller last season, losing the competition with McCarthy, before suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 3 against UConn. Milton spent three years with the Maize and Blue before departing for Tennessee after losing the starting quarterback job to Milton. Worthy signed with the Wolverines in the 2021 class but was granted a release from his National Letter of Intent and inked with Texas.

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