REPORT: Michigan Running Back Blake Corum to Have Season-Ending Knee Surgery
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — As Purdue prepares for Saturday's Big Ten Football Championship Game against No. 2 Michigan at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Wolverines are not expected to have star running back Blake Corum, according to a report by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
Sources: #Michigan star RB Blake Corum is expected to have knee surgery and is out for the season. The Heisman candidate should make a full recovery. He tried to play last week vs. Ohio State but his knee made it impossible.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 1, 2022
Corum suffered a knee injury that limited his play last week on the road against Ohio State. He only managed two carries for six yards in Michigan's 45-23 victory. The Heisman Trophy candidate leads the Wolverines with 1,463 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns this season.
Michigan averages a Big Ten-best 244.5 yards rushing per game and will now turn to sophomore running back Donovan Edwards for the second straight game. He registered 216 yards on the ground and two touchdowns in the win over the Buckeyes.
"I think both those running backs are two of the best in the country, and they have proven that week in and week out," Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said on Monday. "They have a great offensive line. They play a bunch of tight ends. They get in running sets. Then you throw in an athletic quarterback, they can pull it at any point and run."
Edwards has appeared in nine games for the Wolverines, carrying the ball 92 times for 687 yards and six touchdowns. He leads the conference with an average of 7.5 yards per attempt.
"So we have to figure out a way to be physical at the point of attack, put enough guys in the box to be able to stop the run, but yet you can't abandon covering the pass," Brohm said. "Because they took advantage of that this past game against Ohio State and hit a lot of big plays."
The Big Ten Championship Game between Purdue and Michigan is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.