Donovan Edwards announce that he is leaving Michigan wolverine today now another significant issue for the team….
On Monday morning, Michigan running back Donovan Edwards announced that he’s returning for his senior season.
Edwards posted a short message on social media: “Michigan fans… I’m back.”
His return is a major boost to an offense slated to lose its leading, passer, rusher, top two receivers and five starting offensive linemen. For Edwards, he’ll get his first season as the projected lead back after playing behind Blake Corum the past two seasons.
After entering the season with dark-horse Heisman Trophy and first-round NFL Draft hype, Donovan Edwards disappointed statistically. Through 14 games, Edwards’ yards per carry had dropped from 7.1 in 2022 to 3.5. He had yet to break off a run of more than 25 yards. His season-high in rushing yardage was just 52 yards, and he had just 393 rushing yards and three touchdowns in 14 games.
While Blake Corum repeated as Big Ten running back of the year and set a school record for points and touchdowns in a season, Edwards had struggled even getting first downs.
But leaning on his faith, therapist and team around him, Edwards didn’t get discouraged. Teammates were impressed by his refusal to pout, pack it in for the year or transfer, and it finally showed on the football field with his six-carry, 104-yard, two-touchdown game against Washington in the national title game. Included in the game were his two longest runs of the year — 41- and 46-yard touchdown runs — that put the Wolverines up, 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
“I just realized I was stressing myself, and putting pressure on myself that I shouldn’t,” Edwards said after the game. “My therapist talked to me about expectations I put on myself, and when I don’t meet those expectations, I just get into a cluster, and the cycle keeps repeating itself and just get mad about it.
“… I let everything go. I let everything go in me that was (saying) ‘I’ve gotta do this, I’ve gotta do that.’ I just let that go today and let God flow through me.”
In the end, Edwards finished the season with 497 rushing yards on 4.2 yards per carry, as well as 249 yards on 30 receptions and a 34-yard pass for a total of 780 yards on 150 touches. Over three seasons, Edwards had recorded 2,491 scrimmage yards and 19 touchdowns on 366 touches.
In his senior season, Edwards will try to answer questions about his after-contact ability, rushing vision and technique, but the former top-40 recruit’s home-run explosiveness in both the run and pass game was evident throughout his first three seasons; he finished with 16 plays of at least 30 yards over the last three seasons.
It’s also hard to ignore that many of Edwards’ biggest games also came on college football’s biggest stages — at Ohio State, in the Big Ten championship, in the national championship.
With his return in 2024, Edwards will have an opportunity to be U-M’s featured back as the Wolverines seek to remain atop college football.
