Previously: Last year’s profiles. P Tommy Doman Jr. S Rod Moore. CB Ja’Den McBurrows. LB Jaydon Hood. LB Junior Colson. LB Tyler McLaurin. DE Kechaun Bennett. DE TJ Guy. DE/DT Dominick Giudice. DT George Rooks. DT Rayshaun Benny. NG Ikechukwu Iwunnah. C Greg Crippen. C/G Raheem Anderson. T Giovanni El-Hadi. T Tristan Bounds. TE Louis Hansen. WR Cristian Dixon. WR Xavier Worthy. WR Andrel Anthony Jr. RB Tavierre Dunlap.

We did it! Somehow, despite producing the most perfect running back for college football in 2021 at the most perfect school for Michigan recruiting, we managed to get Donovan Edwards to come in just under five stars in the composite, thus rescuing him from the fate of every 5-star Michigan RB since Tyrone Wheatley. It was a near run thing:

Five-stars start at 0.9831. If one tiny site realizes Ohio State’s own scouts liked Edwards more than the TreVeyon Henderson they got, does a comparison of NFL production to recruiting rankings and notices there’s a flaw in underrating Midwest players, or watches a football game that took place after 2007, there’s your .0025 points, and the jig is up.

Keeping Michigan’s #1 target in the 4-star zone was almost as challenging as keeping him home. Edwards was no help, popping to the top of his class as a freshman, and finishing his career as Mr. Football in Michigan while leading West Bloomfield—WEST BLOOMFIELD(!)—to its first-ever state championship in the state’s highest division. He left no flaws in his game: speed, strength, vision, body type, acceleration, agility, academics, PERSONALITY. He lined up at quarterback, running back, slot receiver, and WIDE receiver, where he ran real post, zig, slant, and corner routes, and connected. Oklahoma, Georgia, and Ohio State all had Edwards the #1 back on their boards, and were telling this to their recruiting people. Thank Denard for deaf ears.

We could not have done this without the help of ESPN, who ranked SEC-bound Damon Payne and Garrett Dellinger, as well as ND signee Rocco Spindler, ahead of the guy all of those guys’ coaches voted the best player in the state. ESPN also had to shoehorn 27 players committed to SEC schools, and 30 from the Southeast ahead of their 7th-best player in the Midwest. Rivals wasn’t so blatantly propping up a business venture, but they too ignored the pleas of people who bothered to watch the best football team in the best of states, and we are forever grateful.

It could have been a consensus, but Steve Lorenz betrayed us again, allowing the 247 people he has no control over—the same people who look most closely at their re-ranks and commissioned a study a few years back to uncover their own blind spots—to push Edwards all the way up to a “98” in their final re-rank. That’s higher even than they put Zach Charbonnet, as if that wasn’t what ultimately doomed every Fargas, Baraka, Grady, Green, Walker, and Isaac to get a fifth star. Midwest analyst Allen Trieu, speaking directly to us I am sure, tried to spin this while explaining they moved Edwards up because they could find no reason not to:

“I am sure the nay-sayers will point to the recent history of five-star backs who have signed with Michigan. The results have not been favorable. We cannot punish Edwards, a prospect with no real glaring weaknesses at this point, for the results of other recruits who he has no connection with though.”

That’s not how curses work. The Angry Michigan Five-Star Running Back-Hating God is wroth; if the recruiting services were to find a way to visit the future and report back exactly which RBs are going to be crazy sick awesome, AMFSRBHG will just have to find a more creative way to make us wish we never dreamed. In this case, all they have to do is banish the forward pass, or at least vanquish the idea of throwing to a running back from our coaches’ minds. See? There’s always a way.

[After THE JUMP: Immutable god meets adaptable force.]

The perfect back and… Because there isn’t much to complain about, the scouts scrounged for something extra to talk about. Trieu focused on the heavy.

Complete back who has shown he can run between the tackles and grind out tough yardage as well as hit the home run. Runs with violence when he has to. Does not shy away from contact and initiates the blow much of the time. Excellent lateral agility. Has great burst and acceleration as well. Generally a one cut and go guy….Great pass-catcher. Good pass blocker because of strength and willingness to be physical but still needs to polish technique there. Has intangibles and willed his way to some runs and also came up big in big moments for his team. … Complete prospect who can be a lead back at a high-major program and be an early round draft choice.

He made a comp to Alvin Kamara, which we’ll talk about that in a sec.

Rivals’ Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt named Edwards as one of the players who would've been in contention for a Five-Star Challenge invite had the pandemic not wiped that out:

“A camp setting does not fully showcase Edwards’ abilities, but he would still have been a standout at the position because of his speed and agility. He has such a well-rounded game that I have no doubt Edwards would be impressive at the Five-Star Challenge.”

Helmholdt saw Edwards when he broke his ankle as a sophomore and was impressed with his toughness ever since.

The No. 1 thing that makes Edwards an elite back is his explosiveness. The four-star gets to top speed in an instant, can change direction on a dime and has the long-range speed to outrun defenders once he breaks loose. But that toughness, along with his receiving ability and overall football IQ, contributes to making the Rivals100 prospect one of the top backs in this class.

He seemed to recover quickly; Edwards was was back to impressing scouts at the Opening's Ohio regional in the spring of 2019. Rivals’ national analysts Adam Gorney and Mike Farrell comped Edwards to Cam Akers, a powerful back who’s been an effective receiver and used top play quarterback. As Edwards’s senior year progressed, opponents keyed in on him (and Dillon Tatum was a fine RB himself), so West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy began putting Edwards at wildcat and wide receiver for big stretches. When Trieu scouted WB against Lake Orion later in the season, they seemed to have figured out the right mix:

Teams have geared up to stop him this year, but WB has allowed him to run more wildcat in addition to taking hand-offs, which helped him get loose. His acceleration and burst looked good and he also ran hard through contact and delivered some blows at the end of his runs. He looked the part of a blue-chip prospect.

I mentioned in the Dunlap writeup that I love it when Notre Dame thinks they had a shot because we get a writeup from Tim Prister of IrishIllustrated. When Prister went through all of the Irish’s RB targets, there was only one he couldn’t nitpick.

Donovan Edwards is both quick and fast. He plays extremely hard every snap of the football with excellent forward lean/pad level and superior athleticism to just about everybody with which he shares the football field. A combination of speed and lower-body power allow him to run away from defenders or plow through them. High-level understanding of how to play the running back position. Predominately a north-south runner who does almost all of his damage between the hash marks, which is the sign of a real running back.

Versatile in that he catches it out of the backfield, can line up wide and play receiver, and can run go-routes past defensive backs. Also returns punts and can throw it downfield if need be. Clearly the No. 1 choice for the Irish moving forward.

Brian noted in the Hello that Prister “came up with weak points for the other backs, calling one stiff, another too bounce-minded to be an every-down back, and even suggesting one was better suited as a corner.”

Especially receiver. I want to go back to Trieu’s Alvin Kamara comp because that is really saying something. Kamara is the one guy other than Christian McCaffery (who’s way taller) you talk about when you discuss NFL running backs who can split out wide and run receiver routes. Trieu explains this is exactly what he meant (writing before the multipurpose senior tape):

I compared him to Alvin Kamara also because of his pass-catching ability. That was not utilized as much this year at West Bloomfield, but having seen him in 7-on-7 and workouts, there is no doubt he can catch the ball. He is a willing pass blocker also, something that should help him compete early at Michigan.

Rivals Adam Gorney begrudgingly admits Edwards “could be utilized greatly in Michigan’s offense” while moping that his Dawgs couldn’t buy him out of it. Around these parts I call this a A Very Big Deal. The way football is changing right now is more teams are splitting their RBs out wide to get more empty sets, and pulling linebackers out of the box.

That’s a neat trick if they’re not ready, but once the opponent makes the right adjustment all you’re doing is sacrificing the ability to hand off to your best ballcarrier by turning him into a receiver. It’s when turning him into a receiver—versus a linebacker—that you really mess with the defense. The Blake Corum comp for this was Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and I clipped a bunch of Chiefs plays last year to demonstrate what they do to coverages. The the first link, CEH got into a speed race with a linebacker in man. In the second they played zone and burned a cornerback on him. My favorite NFL commentator Brett Kollmann discussed the Saints version of the Big Beef Thunder/Lightning offense Michigan often refers back to. But he left out what Kamara does to you in the receiving game:

Alex Rollins is a good X’s and O’s YouTuber with a cringingly QVC voice, but if your ears can survive five minutes of someone trying to sell you a dishwasher that also toasts bagels, start 3 minutes in here and sample Kamara. There’s also this cut-up of Kamara option routes (no sound) that emphasizes the moves he puts on people.

It doesn’t have Kamara running posts though. Edwards runs a really good (for a high school wide receiver) post route. Do that against a linebacker and it’s Saquon vs McCray.

Right and Ready. The things they are saying about Edwards after spring and most of fall practice are that, but also ineffable. This is LB/captain Josh Ross after three weeks on the field with the new kid:

“Speed. Speed, speed, speed,” Ross said. “That dude is flying. He’s so fast. Young guy, still learning, still getting better. But he can fly. I’ll say that. He definitely can fly.”

Mike Hart was like “it’s real.”

“He’s just an explosive … I think a lot of you guys have seen his high school tape. The kind of runs he made in high school, he has the ability to make those in college. When he switches gears, you can tell. He doesn’t look out of place."

Bellamy, who’s seen it for years, was like “Yeah, I still don’t believe it.”

"It’s Donovan. He’s what I’ve seen since third grade. He’s a kid that’s not going to let anyone outwork him. He’s a kid that takes his craft very seriously. He’s going to be a great addition to the offense. He’s attacking every day and he’s getting better and better. I get a chance to see him and he poses problems for defenses."

One of the main themes—after “YOWZA!”—was they thought Edwards came working like a veteran (a trait that won Ty Wheatley early playing time as well). Blake Corum:

“Donovan came in right away and he got used to the game. Obviously, college ball is a little faster than high school ball, but I see him coming in every day working really hard getting used to all the plays and stuff, and I feel like he's definitely gonna be a really good player. I like what I see from him so far.”

Jim Harbaugh, explaining you’ll see Edwards next weekend:

"Donovan is going to be really good. He’s got that competitive part about him, and the thing Donovan understands is that it takes the whole team to win a championship," Harbaugh said. "Nobody is winning any championship unless it’s the team. He speaks that team language as good as anybody I’ve every been around. He’s like a blessing that way, and he won a championship at West Bloom[field] (Mich.), so he knows.

Blake Brockermeyer has been touring everyone’s fall camps and came away from Michigan’s ready to name his kid Number 7:

“Talented true freshman running back Donovan Edwards is off to a great start in camp. Edwards has elite speed and has a ‘different gear’ than the other talented backs he’s competing with at Michigan. Edwards enrolled early, and has earned the respect of his teammates as a hard worker that is passionate about improving.

Josh Gattis was mentioning Edwards right alongside well-established Hassan Haskins and breakout candidate Blake Corum:

“Between our running back room, we look at it as almost that we’ve got three guys that can start. Obviously, we feel that way with Donovan Edwards coming in as a true freshman in the spring. Tremendous talent. He comes in with five-star billing behind his name but it doesn’t take you long to look out there on the field and say, ‘oh yeah, that guy is a five-star. He backs it up. He backs it up with his work ethic.’

This week the staff pumped the brakes a little bit, but Edwards clearly has the #3 back role going into week 1.

The Game Changer. Michigan has already made it clear that Edwards is going to play early and often in Michigan’s three-man running back rotation. The question is will that change Michigan’s fortunes this year? Judging solely on Edwards history, that isn’t a question, because Donovan is one of those guys who appears in the moment.

Trieu explained they ultimately made Edwards a five-star because he took his game to another level in the playoffs:

He has run with violence when he has had to, he has shown breakaway ability. He has exceptional burst and lateral agility. Somewhere in there, he even found time to get to a Rising Stars workout and showed his receiving skills. He has also shown the ability to turn up his game when his team needed it. This is while juggling a move to Michigan as a mid-year enrollee. Because of how odd this year is, this may be the only time we ever see a kid have to move into a college, play in a semi-final, go start classes at that college, then come back to play in a state final. And he showed no ill-effects of such a whirlwind schedule.

Rivals didn’t go full five-star, but they too moved Edwards up their ratings at the end after Edwards elevated his game for the playoffs. EJ Holland called Edwards a “program-changer.” Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt:

"Certainly the postseason play factored into it, but Donovan’s always been a guy right on the cusp of 5.9 and 6.0 Rivals ranking … And that senior film helped Edwards' case. … West Bloomfield went to the state championship and won by six touchdowns because he has that ability to flip a switch and take over games and be dominant when he needs to."

This is a national take. Edwards was the third guy brought up by 247’s Josh Pate and Garrett Stepien in their list of college football’s top impact freshmen. Edwards and Junior Colson were named the two early impact players at Michigan by Chris Hummer. All used the term “game-changer.”

The psychological explanation for this is he’s well-grounded—“mentally tough” to use the ancient vernacular. The other explanation behind his ineffable quality to meet the moment is that Edwards can be so many different things that he can be whatever you need him to be that moment. This is Trieu when Edwards was named the PoY in Michigan:

“He did everything you could ask from a back. When the tough yards were needed and he had to go through someone, he did it. When he needed to find a crease and outrun defenses, he did it. He was the catalyst for his team's first state championship in school history. This was a team that was well coached with some other nice pieces, but with a young offensive line and a first-year starting quarterback.”

“Well-coached” was an understatement—Ron Bellamy is now Michigan’s safeties coach and I’m not kidding that he’s going to be a great Power 5 head coach someday. The quality of coaching around Detroit has exploded in recent years, and the thing they talked about most the last two was ways to slow down Edwards. The closest anyone came was Belleville, in a December semifinal that could go down as the greatest HS game ever played in this state. Belleville was stacked this year with 3-star DBs and safeties playing LB who could cover D-I caliber receivers. Edwards was the difference in that game because he was able to pound out 3 yards into 5 or 6 until he finally broke loose. Donovan’s championship record 257 yards and three TDs in an uncompetitive (the other team’s QB didn’t get a waiver to play after enrolling early) final was just icing.

Sam Webb’s insider rumblings after spring($)—a chunk of which Edwards was playing with a cast on his hand—suggest Gattis isn’t going to waste his new Evans++

I’ve heard freshman cohort Donovan Edwards has been on another level. Two sources independent of one another offered almost the exact same quote… “Donovan looks like a five-star is supposed to look.” The early read from some of the defensive guys was “he just bounces everything.” Then he showed he could go get yards between the tackles too. That said, a few observers shared the opinion that the most impressive aspect of his performance has been how well he has caught the football. Even with the cast on his hand in the early going I’m told he was best of the backs catching the football. And the coaches have been true to their word about Donovan’s usage plan. I’m told they’ve been splitting him out and taking advantage of his receiver skills, just as they’d promised.

I’ll believe a Michigan OC will throw to a running back when it happens, but there’s no doubt it’s a good idea.

Could be more heroic but is Superman: Could they find anything to complain about? Trieu couched his negatives in positives:

Not truly an elusive runner, but can make a defender miss when he has to. Burst and acceleration allow him to break the long runs and has good, but not elite top end speed. … Must secure the ball more consistently although he did not have issues with that in high school.

He also noted the pass protection is there but not polished. Trying harder, I’ll note we have the report of a cast on his hand in spring and the broken ankle as a sophomore. So far that’s just normal running back injuries, but gun to my head if you asked me what’s the way AMFSRBHG comes for us on this one, it would be injuries.

The other five-star Big Ten RB: It is some kind of rule these days that if you get a wife, Ohio State gets to take two. The Soulless added TreVeyon Henderson to their collective this year. For what it’s worth, the Fact/Fiction heads of Rivals think Henderson makes the bigger impact, then found the most pro-Ohio State way of saying that’s because Michigan’s depth chart is stronger.

Etc. Second to El-Hadi in the Delano Hill Memorial Already an Old Man Face award. The hat dance in a snowstorm made this one of the more memorable of the genre:

Five hats on the table for Edwards pic.twitter.com/SKD7GhsDYR

— Kenny Jordan (@Kenny_Jordan5) December 16, 2020

Sam seriously addressed the five-star thing, which means some people at least are taking this seriously, as one should with any verbosely monikered deity we make up to make the point that football is weird and dumb. Short version: no red flags.

Why Reggie Bush but Human? When the Saints picked up Kamara, it was to replace what they used to get from Reggie Bush. When the Lions drafted Kerryon Johnson, a similar type of runner, it was to replace what they used to get out of Reggie Bush, a complete back who was also a constant receiving danger, very hard to bring down, only a “one-cut” guy when that cut was to the endzone. Bush was always just the best player on the field, ran with power and agility and incredible acceleration. His feet and balance and acceleration from a dead stop were all lethal. You had to slow it down to appreciate it. Also those chicken legs that moved in ways that shouldn’t be possible.

*But human* though. Bush happened to be the fastest guy in the State of California. Edwards has great speed but he can’t go to plaid. He is Bush-like in quickness. On the other hand I can’t remember Bush catching a fade against double coverage, running a post route, or lead blocking for anybody. Edwards will do those things, because he’s human.

Variance: Moderate-plus. They go through the five-star candidates with a fine-toothed comb, so the 35-man difference between ESPN and 247 is a significant difference of opinion. The Rivals-247 split is the difference between a low 2nd rounder and a 4th rounder.

Ceiling: Very high. The receiving capability in a modern offense takes the lid off, completely changing how the defense prepares for and plays against Michigan’s offense. I am holding back some because Edwards is a mostly complete prospect, and even star RBs in the Big Ten have to share the spotlight.

General Excitement Level: Very high+. So let me explain: While doing all of these Mathlete showed me how he converts them to a 10-point ratings scale. When Brian says “Vast/Massive/AAAAIIEEEE!/Yowza/Irrational/BOOM/Tents Fingers/Maximal, that becomes a 10/10. A five-star. Very high is a 4.5-star. A 50th overall player. My intent is to sidle right up to the five-star line, but stay under it.

Projection: Immediately Michigan’s third back and trickeration toy behind 1A/1B Haskins and Corum; we feel under-served by the end but the highlight reel is legit. Gets a quarter to be the lead back in the middle of the season and that leads to a big chunk of carries and excitement. He’s used out of the backfield especially against teams that play a lot of man or shell zones. As his routes get more precise, that role increases, and he puts up some nice receiving stats as a “dump-off” option that’s actually some RB option routes created for Edwards to run against linebackers. When Haskins leaves, or perhaps right away, Edwards becomes the Wildcat QB, and picks up a few zone read/belly plays they can run from it. Year three (and year four if we get one) are when we start to see the option routes and clear-outs. He graduates with plenty of mileage and a bit of grumbling from the fanbase that he was underused, goes at the beginning of the 2nd round, and we all grumble again when his NFL role is exactly what we wanted to see in college. But at least we’ll put the curse thing to bed.