The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 67 [ R U N N I N G B A C K S ] PRESEASON ANALYSIS: STARTER This could be a bit of a leap of faith after all the Wolverines lost last year, but in reality the ground game became the Hassan Haskins show by the end of the season. He tallied 40 rushing attempts in the last two games, which resulted in 212 yards and three scores, while the rest of the backs combined for 101 yards and no scores on 18 totes in those contests. DEPTH ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ There may not be a lot of experience beyond Haskins, but both early enrollee Donovan Ed- wards and repeat freshman Blake Corum were consensus four-star recruits coming out of high school. Edwards was a unanimous top-68 prospect nationally and was awarded five stars by 247Sports. Corum was just outside the top 100 according to Rivals and ESPN, and got his feet wet last year while turning his 31 scrim- mage touches into 150 yards and two scores. OVERALL Head coach Jim Harbaugh's reliance on the ground game has seemingly trended down- ward as college football has become more wide open and dependent on aerial attacks. The Wolverines' clip of 131.5 rushing yards per game marked the program's lowest av- erage since 2013 (125.7), but this stable of backs should be able to provide what the team needs. Haskins boasts plenty of size at 6-1, 220, while both Edwards and Corum have speed with enough power. Jansen, meanwhile, told The Wolverine exclusively that Haskins could be a potential 30-carry back. "If we're running the ball 30 times in a game, I'm going to be pretty excited about that," Jansen quipped. "It's been a long time since we've seen that. "And don't forget, the guy that's coaching them, Mike Hart, was that guy. They're going to know what that means. They're going to be prepared for that workload. "I would be shocked to see anybody start in front of Hassan, or get any more carries than him. Hassan is going to be the guy to hand the ball off to this year, early and often. They're going to allow him to get a rhythm, to figure out what it is in any certain game. "Those two- or three-yard runs at the beginning of the game turn out to be seven-, eight-, nine-, 10-yard runs at the end of the game." Gattis loves speed in the lineup, and he knows Corum possesses it to burn. The Michigan OC also knows backs can burn up opportunities by becoming impatient to use their speed. Learning in that area could mark the biggest difference from year one to year two for Corum, according to the man flip- ping Michigan's offensive levers. "You have a guy like Blake Corum, who I think is really a combination of everything — strength, speed and power," Gattis said. "Now we've been able to see the growth of Blake, from year one to year two. "He didn't have patience going to the hole. Now he's understood what it takes to be a high-level collegiate running back, with the plays he's been making in prac- tice. We all know, once he gets to the sec- ond level, he's gone. There's no one that can run with him, or catch him." Jansen sees practice, and says oppo- nents could see a lot of the back of the second-year Wolverine's jersey. "When he gets in the open field, he's gone," Jansen said. "There's nobody that's going to catch him. That is the game- changing speed that you have to have. He also has to be able to go out there and have the opportunity to execute and come through." Michigan can be creative with him, the former All-American told The Wolverine. "Now the goal is, how many different ways can you get him into the second [ R U N N I N G B A C K S ] THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 67 "Those three guys are what the running backs room is supposed to look like here at Michigan. I'm really, really excited about them." U-M OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOSH GATTIS ON HASSAN HASKINS, BLAKE CORUM AND DONOVAN EDWARDS QUICK FACTS Position Coach: Mike Hart (first year). Returning Starter: Hassan Haskins (8 career starts). Departing Starters: Chris Evans (6), Ben Mason (4), Zach Charbonnet (9; transferred to UCLA). Projected New Starter: None. Top Reserves: Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. Wait Until 2022: Tavierre Dunlap. Newcomers: Edwards and Dunlap. Moved In: None. Moved Out: Charbonnet and Christian Turner (transferred to Wake Forest). Rookie Impact: Edwards. Most Improved Player: Haskins. Best Pro Prospect: Edwards. X-FACTOR X-FACTOR It has to be the highly recruited Dono- van Edwards, who provided the Wol- verines with a signature in-state win in the 2021 recruiting class' early signing period. He is a productive receiver out of the backfield, and rushed for 1,400 yards as a junior and 1,500 as a senior, when he was named Gatorade's state player of the year, the captain of the De- troit Free Press' Dream Team and a first- team All-American by MaxPreps. True freshman Donovan Edwards racked up 2,968 rushing yards and 53 touchdowns as a prep junior and senior at West Bloomfield (Mich.) High. PHOTO COURTESY U-M ATHLETICS