Joel Klatt loves Donovan Edwards' odds to win the Heisman Trophy
After waiting his turn behind guys like Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum, Michigan senior running back Donovan Edwards finally gets his chance to be the featured tailback in the Wolverines' offense in 2024.
Edwards had a breakout season in 2022, particularly once he filled in as the starting running back following Corum's season-ending injury against Illinois in Week 12 that season. A sophomore at the time, Edwards finished with 872 rushing yards on 117 carries (7.5 ypc) with seven touchdowns. He added 17 receptions for 192 yards and two receiving touchdowns out of the backfield.
After struggling through much of the 2023 season, there's belief that Edwards will return to his 2022 form as Michigan's go-to option on offense this fall. One such believer is Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt, who considers Edwards' odds to win the Heisman Trophy [+10000] one of the best bets, in terms of value, in the sport this season.
"I mean, was Blake Corum a candidate to win it last year? Sure was," Klatt said. "Was he the year before that, before he got hurt? He sure was. You think that Sherrone Moore is not going to run this offense through the running back? I know Kalel Mullings is still there. I know Alex Orji might be their quarterback Saturday night. Folks, Donovan will be the workhorse. He will be the guy that gets the bulk of the carries. He is the most talented guy, and he catches it out of the backfield even better than Corum did. So, now he's going to be a dual-threat running back, he's an every down back, he can hit the homerun and there's a chance, based on how much they might run the football, that he's going to inch close to 2,000 yards."
In order to win college football's most prestigious award — the Michigan player to do so since Charles Woodson in 1997 — Edwards will not only have to put up huge numbers this fall. The Wolverines will also need to be in the thick of the College Football Playoff hunt and come away with some big wins throughout the year.
"Now, all of a sudden, you get one of those giant wins against Texas, Oregon or Ohio State, and there's Donovan Edwards and he's going to be sitting in New York," Klatt said. "That is not a stretch."
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