Michigan football countdown to kickoff: 34 days until 2022 season
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 3 opener against Colorado State. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
Michigan sophomore running back Donovan Edwards is a unique talent. He’s a running back and has promise in carrying the ball, having ran 35 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns last season, but his skill set is much more broad than most at his position.
He thrived as a pass-catcher last year, catching 20 passes for 265 yards and one touchdown (including a U-M running back record 10 catches against Maryland). And he even threw a 75-yard touchdown pass in Michigan’s 42-3 win over Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.
He has a lot in his arsenal, for sure, and we think he’s got a shot to break Michigan’s record for most receptions by a running back in a season (Chris Perry with 44 in 2003).
Michigan wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy coached Edwards in high school and served as a mentor for years. He knows Edwards as well as anyone, and he was asked last season which former U-M player he’d compare the sophomore to. He chose No. 34, Justin Fargas, one of his former Michigan teammates.
“Justin Fargas would probably be the closest, but we didn’t get a chance to really see him fully develop himself at Michigan,” Bellamy said. “But obviously, he went to SC [Southern California] and became that player we thought he could be. I would say that Donovan would be the closest to Fargas. Blast from the past, right?”
The Fargas comparison is less about the pass-catching during his college career, we’d guess, considering he only caught eight passes in three seasons. But the style of running is likely what Bellamy was referring to, plus the receiving chops he had once in the NFL.
Fargas didn’t have a huge role in his first few seasons at Michigan, before transferring to USC as a senior. There, he rushed for 715 yards and seven touchdowns in 2002. In the NFL, Fargas caught 77 passes for 523 yards from 2003-09. He also had a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2007 (1,009 yards) and totaled 3,369 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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