Michigan football RB Donovan Edwards has one last dance in Columbus

On December 1, 2024By Littum

Last time Donovan Edwards walked into the Horseshoe in Columbus, few knew what to expect.

The week before, his mentor and Michigan football’s running back at the time, Blake Corum, had torn his meniscus and been lost for the season. The result?

Edwards, a former five-star recruit out of West Bloomfield, was thrust into his first career start at a place where UM hadn’t won in two decades, which just happened to be the program he walked away from to spend his collegiate career in Ann Arbor.

The first three quarters were modest, if not underwhelming, as Edwards had 18 rushes for just 49 yards.

Then his career changed forever. With 7:23 to play in the fourth quarter and UM having just gotten the ball back after OSU got within one score, 31-23, Edwards took the pass on the first play of the drive, bursting through a gap on the right side of the line , eluded a diving tackler along the sideline and raced out of the defense 75 yards to the end zone.

Four minutes later, after UM turned OSU near the end zone, he caught a pass for 6 yards and then one. On third-and-3, he ran 85 yards untouched up the middle to seal Michigan’s 45-23 win.

His final four rushes picked up 167 yards and two scores, and he was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, starting an incredible three-game hitting streak. The next week in the Big Ten championship game, he ran 25 times for 185 yards. Three weeks later, he finished with 23 carries for 119 yards in the CFP semifinal loss to TCU.

It seemed to be the beginning of stardom.

But it never happened – despite being placed on the cover of the new video game EA Sports College Football 25.

In the final three games of his sophomore year, Edwards had 520 rushing yards and three touchdowns. In 15 games as a junior, he had just 497 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

Through 11 games in his senior season, Edwards has 578 yards and four touchdowns.

Still, returning to the stage where he rose to stardom, he’s playing in possibly his last game in Maize and Blue, insisting he doesn’t care about achieving his same stat line; only the same end result.

“Not trying to replicate anything for me, just doing what we have to do to win the football game,” Edwards said Tuesday night in Ann Arbor. “I found that I was trying to be something I was in the past, and that past is over. I have to look forward to what’s going to be.

“So I don’t want to replicate anything, just do me, have a great game of football as a team and come out with a win – that’s all our mindset is.”

‘A game does not define who I am’

Make no mistake, Edwards himself says he has not lived up to his own expectations.

As a true freshman, Edwards rushed 35 times for 174 yards (5 yards per carry), but showed his explosiveness in the passing game, taking 20 touches for 265 yards and a score. In his sophomore season, which included the breakout year, Edwards totaled 1,091 yards of offense and nine scores.

Add it all up, and in his first two years Edwards caught 213 touches for 1,530 yards (7.2 yards per touch) and 13 touchdowns. Since then, he has 289 touches for 1,405 yards (4.9 yards per touch) and 10 scores.

He joked that he wanted that “Ashton Jeanty season” (Boise State’s Heisman candidate who has more than 2,000 yards and 27 touchdowns), but added that he kept his individual production in perspective.

“It doesn’t really matter because of the body of work I’ve put out,” Edwards said of the perception he’s defined by that game. “At the end of the day, only one game or just one game defines who I am. Inside Schembechler Hall, people know who I am as a man, as a person — that’s what matters most to me.”

To suggest that Edwards hasn’t had any big moments since then wouldn’t be accurate. It was earlier this calendar year, on Jan. 11, when he became the first player in CFP national championship game history to run for multiple scores of 40-plus yards (41, 46); the second- and third-longest touchdown runs in CFP title game history.

However, it is the only time since December 2022 – the last 26 times he has passed – that Edwards has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game; and he finished at 104 vs. Washington.

But Edwards’ insistence that those within the team walls know he provides added value beyond the box score rang true when co-captain Max Bredeson spoke moments later.

“Donovan’s great, incredible leader,” said Bredeson, a former walk-on. “The energy he brings every day, it’s unbelievable. Always a smile, always ready to be the guy Michigan needs, it’s amazing.

“Everybody knows Dono is an elite player. Like I said, he’s the guy Michigan needs every day. He’s always there, you never know what Dono’s day is like. Always happy, always there with a helping hand . .. a Michigan legend.”

‘We believe in ourselves’

The Wolverines is at the moment 21 point underdogs for their contest Saturday (noon, Fox) at Ohio Stadium, and Edwards, along with his 2021 high school signing class, has a chance to participate in some rarefied air.

UM has won three consecutive games against Buckeyesand his class has a chance to be the first to complete the four-year sweep since 1988-91.

“It would be a huge honor to come out with a win,” Edwards said.

Of course, most people around the program understand that outsiders don’t expect UM to do that. Point spreads have been tracked for games (mostly reliably) dating back to 1969, and Saturday’s three-point spread is the largest UM has ever faced.

But as he feels about the conclusions some are drawing based on how his career has gone since that November day in Columbus, UM’s outspoken ball carrier isn’t worried.

“You know, we don’t listen to outside noise at all,” Edwards said. “They’ve been counting us out since Coach Harbaugh was here. That’s something this program has always been built on, counting it out. We don’t really listen to the outside noise because we believe in ourselves.”

(MUST LISTEN: Make “Hey yeah!” your go-to Michigan Wolverines podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify))

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @RealTonyGarcia.