Previously: Podcast 14.0A, 14.0B, 14.0C. The Story. Quarterback.

RUNNING BACK: AT LONG LAST, THE CHOSEN ONE

[Bolded player rules: not necessarily returning starter, but someone we've seen enough of that I'm no longer talking about their recruiting profile (much, anyway). Extant contributor.]

FEATURE BACK	Yr.	SHORT YARDAGE	Yr.	THIRD DOWN	YR.
Blake Corum	Jr.	Kalel Mullings	So.*	Donovan Edwards	So.
Donovan Edwards	So.	Tavierre Dunlap	Fr.*	Blake Corum	Jr.
CJ Stokes	Fr.	Isaiah Gash	Fr.*	Isaiah Gash	Fr.*
Tavierre Dunlap	Fr.*	Alex Orji	Fr.	CJ Stokes	Fr.

RATING: 5

ATTENTION MEDIA: did you know that Fred Jackson rejoined the Michigan football program this offseason? He's an analyst or somesuch. He's in the building. He is there for you, the quote-gathering media, to sidle up next to. Once you've sidled real good you can say "hey" or "psst," preferably in a large group. And then you can do this.

Anyway. BLAKE CORUM is the light and the truth. It is a longstanding UFR tradition to cluck ominously at Michigan's running backs, decrying their missed cuts and their… other missed cuts, moaning about how Mike Hart never would have ever done that why aren't you Mike Hart you filthy sonofa treasured student-athlete, &c. This did not happen in 2021.

Instead, rapture.

… Corum’s tape was even better than the feels. When coach types talk about “bring your own blocking” they usually mean setting up defenders so your linemen can clear them out. Escaping a linebacker who’s sharing your phone booth without him getting a hand on you is a thing we have not seen much of.

It’s impossible to avoid invoking the Great Little One’s name. The way Corum stutters his feet so the linebackers can’t figure out where to attack (nope, not there!) was a vintage Mike Hart trait. As is the acceleration. If you get a little bit out of your lane he’s going to take it from you, at which point your only solace is you’re not going to be the only back seven defender called out in this film session.

And then he is fast.

I thought this was at least kind of bunk. Early last year I thought Seth was a pushover when it came to RBs, because the grades he was putting up were unprecedented in the history of UFR. Then, I mean, you know, I may not have been charting every snap but I was still in possession of eyes.

When it comes to Hart feelings in particular, there's nothing I remember more than Hart ghosting some linebacker who thought he was about to get a TFL because he'd managed the spectacular precognitive feat of anticipating another outside zone from Mike Debord. WOOP, Hart would go. WOOP. Lo, the prophecy has been fulfilled:

I mean:

Corum is not just a speed back who needs a crease carved out for him and then he can go fast. The Draft Network:

…uses his height to his advantage to hide behind blockers on slower-developing plays before exploding into the second level of the defense. It is difficult to out-leverage him due to his stature and low center of gravity. He possesses loose, oily hips to change direction quickly. … big-play threat … juiced lower body generates the requisite burst to separate from defenders with lateral cuts. He’s a patient and disciplined runner that follows his blocks to daylight. He’s elusive in space and is able to string together sudden cuts/moves.

He's a jittery inside runner with an excellent feel for how plays develop. He does not want to bounce the ball. One of the few negatives Seth had for him last year was in fact cutting a bash up inside Erick All after All had sealed the edge. He does keep his eyes up and will regap and regap again…

If the situation calls for it. But, and here's the thing: not if it doesn't. And there you go.

CORUM DOES LACK ONE HART TRAIT. That would be the ability to drive a ruck of Penn State defenders six yards at a time. This is a tradeoff we'll make for the ability to dust anybody in the country not named Nakobe Dean, but it is an important thing to note in the context of this year's team. Corum can make guys miss in insanely constricted spaces…

…but if he doesn't do that his yards after contact potential is fairly low. Instances of plus-plus contact balance did exist but were rare. Hart was a suitable short yardage back; Corum probably isn't. TDN's "cons" section was all about this—"does not run through defenders"; "lacks the size to assume the RB1 role for an NFL team"; "not an ideal short-yardage back".

And that's fine. Third and two is not the down to put mileage on Corum's legs, and someone else will step up and be at least adequate there. What might hurt Michigan's offense is what happens when Corum doesn't bust out for a huge play. Third downs might have their distribution changed—last year it felt like Haskins set them up for a lot of third and two and then converted those third and twos. This year Corum (and Edwards) might hit more home runs but also set up more third and fours.

This is really searching for a downside. A more realistic one is that Corum is small and missed a chunk of last year with an injury. NFL types bring this up amidst all the hoopla. The Draft Bible:

First thing you see is twitch, lightning quickness with fluid ankles and hips. Bouncy athlete, utilizing a sharp jumpcut in and out of gaps. Scarce lateral agility makes him an open-field nightmare for defenders. Fast-twitch muscle fibers that repeatedly fire. Gets into a hole with excellent burst, hits another gear with maximal speed into green grass and then the endzone. Plays above his size, doesn't pitter-patter and will use vision and toughness to drive forward regardless of his stature. Size concerns are real for a multitude of reasons. Durability will be a concern and add to the mitigation of a lead-back role. Struggles in pass pro and comparative play strength won't be eased in the NFL.

That's less of a concern at the college level. It's even farther down the list since Michigan has a running mate for him this year, too. So then you're left with PFF ranking him the third-best back in the country going into this year, and the clips above, and all the other stuff. Corum should push for All-American honors but probably end up behind at least a couple of the Henderson/Robinson/Vaughn trio when it comes to big honors.

ALSO LIGHTNING, SOMEONE PLEASE TELL HIM HE'S LIGHTNING TOO

free Kirby Smart interpretive dance with wheel route purchase [Patrick Barron]

The 1B to Corum's 1A will be DONOVAN EDWARDS [recruiting profile], who got a smattering of carries early in the year before bursting onto the scene with a 10 catch, 170 yard performance against Maryland with Corum out. You probably remember the cackle you emitted when the wheel route stayed undefeated in that game:

That along with some spring game feats…

…have Michigan fans salivating about Edwards's two-way potential. Certain Michigan blogger type persons may be trying to come up with a hybrid Spiderman Pointing/Wolverine Is Wistful combination meme involving Edwards and coulda-shoulda hybrid threat Chris Evans as we speak. Possibly. Maybe.

This space is more optimistic than that since Edwards picked up about 60% of Evans's career catches in that Maryland game, and it was clear that Michigan knew what it had before that. He was an accurate throw away from a wheel route touchdown against Wisconsin. By the time the Ohio State game rolled around OSU was keying so heavily on Edwards that Michigan got a nearly free end-around touchdown for AJ Henning on their opening drive. This says something about something because by that point in the season AJ Henning was a blinking end-around alert signal.

Let's be clear: Edwards isn't just a running back who happens to be decent at catching the ball. He appears to be a generational talent as a hybrid WR/RB. Bold? Sir, no bolder than casually spearing an errant flare pass with one hand against Ohio State.

Or turning a (temporarily) defeated wheel route into an elegant back shoulder catch.

Or torching Georgia over the top and coming down with the ball despite being interfered with:

If Edwards was a freshman wide receiver with absolutely no indication he could run the ball people would be losing their minds about his potential. Since he's an actual running back, I mean, like… dude.

However, there's a catch. Edwards is fast and agile and has a lot of potential as a runner. This potential is currently unrealized. Here's an exceptionally thorough breakdown of most of Edwards's carries last year:

If you don't have 16 minutes, the tl;dr is that Edwards was far too willing to put his shoulder down and attempt to run through tacklers in situations where he should have sought to get his meep-meep on. Running like Hassan Haskins is great when you're Hassan Haskins, but when you're closer to Corum you should be out there shouting NEVER BUNT HIT DINGERS at the guileless NPCs clutching at your afterburner exhaust. Edwards's breathtaking acceleration on his one long rushing touchdown is evidence enough:

It remains to be seen whether Edwards has that jitter in him. Seth swears up and down that lowering the shoulder was the right thing to do in high school because of his circumstances; if that's the case hopefully Mike Hart, of all people, should be able to imbue Edwards with some ability to ghost linebackers.

This is not to say Edwards is not an actual running back. He is capable of downshifting, letting his blocks develop, and then hitting his hole.

He's not a mindless bounce machine or a mindless pile-pusher. He gets himself in the gap with consistency. What we haven't seen yet is an ability to ghost a guy and turn a decent play into a monster one.

Even if that doesn't come along this year, the threat of Edwards out of the backfield will make him a major weapon for this offense. I remember the terror of seeing Saquon Barkley motion out of the backfield, taking Mike McCray with him. Now Michigan gets to do that to opponents. Because of that ability teams will either have to try to cover Edwards with a linebacker, or tackle him with a DB. We know the former doesn't work. Edwards's 2022 inflection point is about whether the latter does.

Finally, we cannot exit this section of the preview without embedding what may be the greatest running back pass in program history—modern era, Seth, pre-WWII does not count:

In the aftermath of the game Roman Wilson said that he nailed this pass every time they ran it in practice (and biffed in when they tried in walkthrough the day before). I'm setting the over/under on Edwards pass attempts this year at 2.5, and if I was in charge it would be an every-game occurrence. Never bunt. Hit dingers.

Reasonable expectations this year feel like 800 yards from scrimmage split about evenly between runs and catches with some indication that Edwards can hack it as a feature back who needs to make guys miss. Next year he'll be the man.

DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN MOOSEBACK

like this except with several more people trying to tackle him [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The aforementioned Pikachu tag team should suck up the large majority of Michigan's carries. But since Corum isn't a pile mover and Edwards shouldn't be one, there's an opening for a third back in the move-the-chains, terrorize-the-fishing-village archetype. This preview wants that guy to be KALEL MULLINGS [recruiting profile], who may still be a linebacker but probably shouldn't be unless there's a cliff after the two ILB starters that looks like the Michigan fanbase's opinion of Warde Manuel in the aftermath of l'affaire Pearson.

This preview bases its opinion on the robust sample size of one (1) spring game in which Mullings looked like the needed hoss:

Also this:

Mullings was ranked and arrived as a sushi-raw OLB after a couple years of high school injuries, but here's the part where we mention that Wisconsin and Notre Dame were recruiting him for the other side of the ball. The latter led to one of those ND recruit scouting posts:

… at running back his size/frame grade is elite … elite power potential … nimble … moves really well for a 6-2, 220-pound running back. … ability to make back-to-back cuts and then get vertical. … don’t often see that kind of fluidity and cutting ability from a back that big. … quick second level cuts and shows impressive anticipation as a runner…. sets blocks up well and shows the ability to quickly plant and burst vertically.

Mullings is now being listed at 232 (actually down four pounds) in the latest phonebook, so that "elite power potential" is close to being fulfilled. That guy moves piles. This was eventually ruled not a fumble, but here he's got little momentum and nobody pushing from behind; he still manages to fall forward with two different guys tackling him:

Nobody else on the roster is doing that.

And on top of that he was able to burst outside when the opportunity presented itself and rip off a chunk.

thematically appropriate image: advantage Dunlap [Patrick Barron]

TAVIERRE DUNLAP [recruiting profile] is the other option here. We have one clip from last year for him on a nice run that doesn't indicate or dis-indicate short-yardage suitability:

Dunlap got a low four-star ranking from 247 but was otherwise a nondescript three-star. This site generally backs 247 rankings as the best in the business, so Dunlap's steady rise over the course of his senior year is encouraging. The book on him does point to effectiveness in short yardage:

“…frame to play in the 220 neighborhood. Terrific north-south hole puncher with requisite long speed to hit the home run…Not the type to string moves together in the open field. Power Five running back at his best getting north-south or in one-cut situations with juice to hit the long ball.” and “thrives when getting north-south as quickly as possible, showing impressive initial burst for a back on the larger end of the spectrum.”

Dunlap appeared to be the leader for the big-back role midway through spring, before Mullings was an option, and seems to know where his playing time is coming from this year, if indeed he gets some:

“H2 was an every-down back for sure, but he was definitely the one that put in on short yardage — 3rd-and-1, 4th-and-1, goal line. That’s what I want to embody.”

Based on our very robust spring game sample, though, it seems like you'd have to give the edge to Mullings.

It's a yard, maybe two, and maybe Mullings gets stood up there. We're not working with a lot of data here. But your author's feelingsball from the stands pointed to Mullings even if Dunlap did weave his way through an arm tackle or two for a nice run.

One thing's for sure: Mr. Dunlap does not lack in confidence.

“If you ask Blake and Donovan, they’re going to tell you that they’re faster than me, but they know in the back of their head that they’re not,” Dunlap laughed.

I don't believe you dot gif. FWIW, Harbaugh suggested that Dunlap and CJ Stokes were very close for third back duties.

EH?

walk-on du jour [Patrick Barron]

I'll bet one American dollar that nobody outside of the above four guys takes a meaningful snap. There are a couple other guys worth mentioning. First, a shout-out to walk-on LEON FRANKLIN, who a penalty robbed of a touchdown against NIU. Franklin popped up with a nice run in the spring game…

…and will be a sentimental favorite to dunk on someone in the fourth quarter of a blowout.

Michigan brought in just one running back this year. That would be three-star CJ STOKES [recruiting profile]. Early signs are good, at least when it comes to off-field demeanor. He's apparently wearing tape in class so he misses less practice time, drawing praise from Harbaugh himself. Also, I mean:

“Lots of people ask me why you don’t smile more, ‘Why do you always look mad?’ To tell you the truth, I am always mad. I’m always trying to look for a way to get better, be better, and that comes with a lot of bad days that I’m holding myself accountable. There’s not a lot to smile about yet. There’s not a lot to smile about yet."

Ok, then. File under 1,000 years old. We'll check back with him next year, when Corum is presumably in the NFL.

And in "names I scrambled to get anything on because the head coach name-dropped him for the first time a week before the season," walk-on ISAIAH GASH may be a surprise hoss. Harbaugh:

…also the third guy is A-Gash [Isaiah Gash] because he's tremendous, tremendous in the short yardage running right now and being the third down back. So feel really strong with those those five backs going into the beginning of the season.

Gash does not profile like a traditional third down back at 5'10", 175, but this is his dad…

…so maybe.