Michigan Football next season might have the 2 best RB's in the country in one backfield. I firmly believe that Blake Corum wins the Heisman if he doesn't get hurt against Illinois and has those game breaking runs against Ohio State that Donovan Edwards had. Corum then decides to stay another year in Ann Arbor so he could focus on his knee recovery, charity work, and his love of real estate investing. Edwards has pretty much already said he is heading to the NFL after this season.
That is an embarrassing RB room of riches for the Wolverines in one backfield next season. I expect to see Corum in the backfield and Edwards in the slot as a WR, to keep the defenses guessing what might happen. Edwards has proven to be a reliable WR as Corum is the powerful RB. When you have two game breakers in the backfield, you're going to want to have both guys on the field a ton. Which means the #3 RB a guy that probably wouldn't see many snaps is going to get a ton, so the dynamic duo doesn't play in blowouts risking injury.
A great running back in college is worth its weight in gold. In the NFL its a different story. We saw a strong example of that yesterday as neither Barkley nor Jacobs signed a long-term deal. Cook is a free agent, Akeler went back to the Chargers and Mixon had to sign a smaller deal to stay with the Bengals. The NFL has become a league that drafts a good RB, lets them play their entire rookie contract, franchises them for 1 year at over $10M a year, and then drafts another. Big Money long term RB contracts have not turned out well for NFL teams, Zeke Elliott in Dallas and the Rams Todd Gurley are good recent examples.
So now what? Should RB's leave early or stay in school? It all depends on what the market is paying. If you are projected to be a 4th rounder or higher in the draft, you probably want to stay in school to see if you can get into the 2nd round next year. Rookie contracts are capped and if you can make the same money with NIL, get your degree, and help your team, it might be worth it to stay another year. If the trend continues, an RB in the NFL might have only 1 contract, better make it as large as possible.
- Ben St-Juste details in his own words what happen when Michigan asked him to medically retire from football. Ben struggled to stay healthy as a Wolverine and had 6 hamstring pulls. The trainers and Michigan coaches asked him to retire medically from the football team (which allows players to keep their scholarship but not play football any longer, this also frees up a scholarship for the team to use on another recruit or player). This is not a great look for Michigan, but I get it. At this time, Michigan was in dire need of good CB play and Ben just couldn't get on the field. Yes, Michigan seemed heartless in letting him go when he signed the medical paperwork and it seemed like he was healed but you have to be able to count on players and Ben to that point hadn't proven he could stay healthy. I remember when he committed, the Michigan coaches knew they had an NFL corner in St-Juste, he just struggled with injuries. Ben ends up transferring to Minnesota, plays well and gets drafted. Now he is the starting CB in Washington. Sometimes you just need a different place or opportunity.
- 8 Northwestern football players sue the University
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