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Blake Corum To Return Comment Count

Brian January 9th, 2023 at 2:20 PM

Score one for NIL, as Blake Corum just announced on the Rich Eisen show that he will return for his senior year.

As sometimes happens, Corum's NFL draft stock doesn't match his college productivity and NIL allows Michigan to make the financial decision non-obvious, so Corum can return to a team he loves and go for a Big Ten trifecta.

Corum had a heavy workload until he got knocked out of the Illinois game; I would expect him to be in more of an even platoon with Donovan Edwards after Edwards established himself as a lead back himself over the course of the OSU/Purdue/TCU games. A version of Edwards with a surgically repaired thumb will be able to play many snaps as a wide receiver, giving opposing defenses a dilemma. With Ronnie Bell off to the NFL and Andrel Anthony transferring it seems likely that it's Edwards stepping into a majority of the vacated snaps.

Michigan is still waiting on decisions from 2022 starters Zak Zinter, Trevor Keegan, Gemon Green, and Mike Barrett; with the OL transfers Michigan has brought in and Ernest Hausmann at LB the main remaining question for a loaded roster next year is who is going to be Will Johnson's bookend.

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Comments

Derek

January 9th, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^

Just in case anyone else is fantasizing about next year's ceiling, Reggie Bush won the Heisman in a year when LenDale White was also an All-American.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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schreibee

January 9th, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^

Blake Corum is a day 3 draftee like Brock Purdy was!

Anyone who was paying attention to Iowa St (even if only scouting potential replacements for Harbaugh) knew Purdy was far more than his combine stats, a heady gamer & a winner. Mr. Irrelevant?! How about Mr. Super Bowl Champ!

How could anyone watch Blake the Great play & think to themselves "Eh, there's 75 players I'd rather have on my team"?!

Complete idiocy!

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 21184

lhglrkwg

January 9th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^

I wonder how Corum returning will influence other guys' decisions. Folks like Zinter and Keegan might be tempted to come back for NIL money to take another shot at it with one of the best running back duos of recent memory

On the flip side, I saw some rumors of RB room transfers due to this (And there's only so many scholarship RBs on this roster right now who arent named Blake or Donovan...). Hopefully there isn't a massive offensive backfield drop off after JJ, Donovan, and Blake all likely go pro post-2023

Joined: 07/03/2008

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bronxblue

January 9th, 2023 at 2:35 PM ^

I think there are a couple of guys in the backfield who, for example, saw goal-line and short-yardage carries go to a converted LB and might be able to read the writing on the wall.  Not sure what'll happen and if they are happy at UM in their role they should absolutely stay.  

I do think that there is a weakness in RB recruiting that needs to be addressed; Cabana looks like a solid RB with good pedigree but the rest of the past couple of classes have been filled with flyer-types that UM should absolutely not be falling back on after what they've done with Edwards and Corum.  That falls on Hart, full-stop, and he needs to close on guys to keep this system going.

Joined: 11/22/2008

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bronxblue

January 9th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^

But those first 3 didn't include Mike Hart and Edwards was as much because of Bellamy (and his listed recruiters were Jaybaugh and Moore). And like I said Cabana looks good but Hart has been tied to the #63 RB (Stokes), #9 (Cabana), and #55 (Hall).  And I don't know if any top line RB who they're in line for in 2024 (though I haven't dug too deep).

Mike Hart the coach has been really good at UM, but Hart the recruiter was middling at IU even compared to his peers and has been middling at UM as well.  That has to change or they need to compensate for that deficiency elsewhere.

Joined: 11/22/2008

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Benthom11

January 9th, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^

In the last 2 classes, Michigan has gotten 4 recruits in the top 10 of their position. 1 was a RB. 0 guys in the top 10 at QB, TE, WR, the entire OL, DT, or LB. Seems like a non issue to me. Also, not that weird that the 2022 class was weak when UM had Corum and Edwards coming back. And it seems like you underrate Cabana. For comparison, he's the #9 RB while Corum was #12 RB in his class. 

Joined: 08/06/2017

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bronxblue

January 10th, 2023 at 9:28 AM ^

Again, I said Cabana seems like a good back but let's also not overreact to individual position group rankings.  Cabana is the #9 RB but is 169th overrall; Etta is the #14 DL recruit and at 114, and English is the #25 WR and is 180th and Hill is #25 CB at 195.  Tyler Morris was the #22 WR and was 133rd overall.  the #1 back in the country this year (Baxter going to Texas) was #21 overall behind 5 QBs, for example.  So positional rankings aren't the be-all, end-all.  And compared to Corum he's positionally better but the #9 RB in Corum's class was 89th nationally overall, so a much deeper overall class.

People keep acting like these gaps in recruiting due to returning talent is normal, and maybe it is for a QB (though lots of schools do seem to keep getting top-notch kids every class) but at skill positions like WR and RB the top teams keep pulling in guys and let it be known you're just gong to fill in for the guy ahead of you in a year or two.  

I just think people have blinders up a bit around Hart.  He's a good coach but even when he came to UM I noted that his recruiting at IU was mediocre and that people expecting kids to give a shit about what he did before many of them were aware of football wasn't a given.  I know UM is chasing Taylor Tatum and that would be a good pickup but otherwise Hart has disappointed me as a recruiter because he really hasn't closed on a major guy who wasn't nearby (in Cabana) and given UM's focus on the ground game they have to have a strong running back room.  

Joined: 11/22/2008

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Koop

January 10th, 2023 at 9:42 AM ^

100% this. Edwards didn't quite see the holes last year and had to unlearn the high school instincts to try to outrun everyone. Corum wasn't 2022 Corum in his first year, either. Give Stokes a minute.

No denying, however, that Edwards, McCarthy, and (to be fair) Oluwatimi, Keegan, and Zinter are remarkable talents that don't come around every year. Enjoy this, folks.

Joined: 08/16/2022

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bronxblue

January 9th, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^

It's been both.  The past couple of years haven't been great for the QB/RB combo in terms of recruiting.  There will absolutely be a drop off once JJ and Edwards leave barring some significant change in guys being signed.  Maybe Davis at QB helps but while I like Cabana at RB he's still likely a step down from Corum and Edwards and it doesn't seem like they even have another guy to fill in.

Joined: 11/22/2008

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schreibee

January 9th, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^

Man I really don't like this "carries going to a LB" take!

Clearly Mullings was a far superior RB than LB in the Spring game, but NHG's injury made him important for LB depth. Otherwise he'd have likely been the #3 RB all season. 

That being said, if Dunlap is being passed by walk-ons maybe it's in his best interest to look into other options 🤷‍♂️

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