'Wow' comment from Jon Jansen on Michigan football running backs
Former Michigan offensive lineman Jon Jansen is privy to the goings-on at Schembechler Hall, now U-M’s color commentator. That’s why one recent comment of his was somewhat of a stunner.
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Jansen, talking with Michigan basketball play-by-play man Brian Boesch on a recent In The Trenches podcast, reserved some of his highest praise of the year for sophomore running back Donovan Edwards.
Asked for a few reasons for excitement on both sides of the ball, Jansen brought up a couple of players — Edwards and sophomore linebacker Junior Colson.
“Offensively — and I’m probably not going out on a huge limb here because we saw a lot at the end of the football season last year — I think Donovan Edwards is going to be the best running back in college football,” Jansen said.
“This year?” Boesch questioned.
“This year,” Jansen confirmed. “Because of what I’ve seen him do in the offseason, what we saw him do and how he grew in the offense last year.
“The thing that makes Donovan so dangerous is yeah, you can hand the ball to him and he’s going to have explosive plays. He’s going to be powerful, run through tackles. He’s going to be hard to tackle. He’s a guy that can hit the edge, can go right up the middle and when he breaks free, is not going to be caught. He’s not a guy that’s rumbling, stumbling then all of a sudden gets caught at the two-yard line. When he breaks free, he’s going to the distance.”
Not only that, he added, but as everyone saw in the Michigan – Maryland game last year, he’s a guy you can use to catch a pass.
“You can split him out wide, use him as wide receiver,” he said. “You can line him up in the slot. You can throw him the ball out of the backfield. Hell, you can line him up as a wing. You can line him up anywhere and it’s really only limited in your imagination as to the different ways you can use Donovan Edwards.
“And by the way, against Iowa, he happened to throw a touchdown pass. I think the possibilities are endless. Put him behind Phil Steele’s No. 1 offensive line, you have a 1-2 punch — and I’m not trying to skip over [Michigan junior back] Blake Corum. I think Blake is going to have a great year. He’s going to be dynamic on special teams, and you can also throw him the ball. He’s very shifty. But the bell cow I believe is going to be Donovan Edwards.”
We’ll know soon enough if he’s right. But given that he witnessed practices this spring — oh, and just happens to have played with the best of the best in his elite college and NFL career — that’s exciting news.
On the Michigan defensive side, Jansen doesn’t see a lot of drop-off despite the loss of elite personnel. That’s due to one man in particular.
“Yeah, it’s losing leadership and playmakers at every level. Up front with the defensive line, at the linebacker position, you’re certainly losing some leadership. And then in the secondary, you’re losing talent and leadership,” he said.
“But I think Junior Colson, is going to have a breakout season that by the end of the year they’re going to be talking about him as quite possibly the best linebacker in the country.
“This group of Michigan linebackers … we talk about where is the pass rush going to come from. Yeah, we’re hoping we get some from up front. And we will. But with as athletic as this group is, I think we’re going to be talking about this linebacking corps being a difference maker for this defense.”
Time will tell. But it’s clear these are two special athletes who have the potential to be difference-makers at Michigan this fall.
