Getty Michigan Wolverines running back Blake Corum.
Michigan Wolverines star running back Blake Corum isn’t playing in the Fiesta Bowl against TCU as his team makes a run in the College Football Playoff because of a season-ending injury. According to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, Corum suffered a knee injury against Illinois in November 2022.
Corum, a Heisman Trophy contender who ran for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns before his injury, attempted to play in Michigan’s rivalry game against Ohio State, but only carried the ball twice for 6 yards. After the game, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Corum would be having surgery to repair the knee injury and would miss the rest of the season and the playoffs.
Corum told Adam Schefter during an interview on his podcast in December that he underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He told Schefter, “It’s going to be a couple months. I had to get a meniscus repair. It wasn’t one of those where you can go in and score and stuff like that. I went in and repaired it. It’s looking good.”
Donovan Edwards, Who Is Also Banged Up, Will Fill-In for Blake Corum Along With Converted Linebacker Kalel Mullings
GettyDonovan Edwards is a running back for the Michigan Wolverines.
Sophomore running back Donovan Edwards, who has 889 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns on the season, will continue to fill in as the Michigan Wolverines starter with Blake Corum sidelined. But Edwards is also dealing with an injury. According to ESPN, Edwards suffered a hand injury against Nebraska and has been playing with a cast since then.
Edwards told ESPN ahead of the Fiesta Bowl about his injury, “Ain’t nothing to it. Like, I already know how special I am. The whole mentality of this season has been that everybody’s got to produce. … Everybody knew what I was capable of since I got here. I’m a confident person … There’s nobody in the country that can do just about half the things I can do.”
Mike Hart, the former Wolverines running back who now coaches the team’s backfield, told Wolverines Wire ahead of the College Football Playoff semi-final matchup against TCU about Edwards, a standout at Michigan’s West Bloomfield High School, “I think really at the end of the day like he’s always been that way. He was the No. 1 guy in high school. He knows how to carry the ball. He knows how to run the ball.”
Hart added, “It was just he waiting for opportunity. So he’s taking advantage of his opportunity, which we love. He’s running downhill; he’s running hard. He’s gotten better and takes everyday serious, comes up shows up to work every day. And he’s just doing a great job.”
Next up on the depth chart is Kalel Mullings, who has also played linebacker for the Wolverines defense. Mullings ran for 26 yards on 8 carries, scoring 2 touchdowns, during Michigan’s 43-22 victory over Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Hart told Wolverines Wire about Mullings, “I mean normally, when you’re not good enough at running back you move to linebacker! … You’re gonna be a little stiffer right? … But no, honestly, I’ve really never had a linebacker come back over. So I think most running backs can play linebacker, not every linebacker can play running back. But Kalel is a guy who’s athletic, has great hands, great feet. And he’s kind of like the exception to the rule of linebacker coming over and playing running back when normally you do it the other way around.”
A third option for Michigan is freshman C.J. Stokes, who has 273 yards on 55 carries, including a touchdown. He carried the ball twice against Ohio State but did not have any touches against Purdue. He had 11 carries against Illinois after Corum’s injury.
Blake Corum Hasn’t Decided if He Will Come Back to Michigan in 2023
“Blake Corum has Heisman Habits.” – Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh on Blake Corum’s impact to team #FiestaBowl
Corum could return to Michigan for another season with the Wolverines, but he hasn’t made a decision yet. As of December 11, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay rated Corum as the fifth-best running back in the 2023 draft class. Kiper has him behind Texas’ Bijan Robinson, Texas A&M’s Devon Achane, Alabama’s Jahmyr Gibbs and UAB’s DeWayne McBride, while McShay has Robinson, Gibbs, Achane and UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet ahead of him.
Corum told Schefter during the December podcast interview, “I’m 50/50. It’s a hard decision. I got to think about what’s best for Blake Corum … I don’t know where that might be. … A lot has been happening recently with the injury. I thought about it a little bit, but right now I’m just trying to figure some things out, get my knee right. I have a couple weeks before I have to decide what’s best for me and what I should do.
Corum added, “I’m going to try and put some puzzle pieces together and see what’s best. But whatever decision I make, I’ve just got to go with it.”
His teammate, sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy, said at the media day ahead of the Fiesta Bowl, “I don’t like getting into that with guys because I don’t want to sway their choice in life. But I definitely have been in his ear a little bit, just asking and picking his brain.”