Michigan has the pieces to run to a national title

RJ Young

FOX Sports National College Football Analyst

After a year as the understudy to Hassan Haskins, Michigan running back Blake Corum enjoyed one of the best years in the sport by a tailback.

Before suffering a season-ending injury, he was squarely in the conversation for the Heisman Memorial Trophy. After rushing for 1,463 yards — 5.9 yards per clip — with 18 TDs in just 11 games (plus a cameo in a 12th against Ohio State as he unsuccessfully tested his injured knee), you’d be right to believe he was snubbed by Heisman voters.

As a star on what was an undefeated Wolverines team with some dominating performances — 166 rushing yards against No. 10 Penn State, 243 against Maryland — there’s no other way to see his 2022 season. And you’d be right to wonder why an NFL Draft-eligible talent like himself chose to return to Ann Arbor for one more year.

One reason is plain: He hasn’t won a national title. In this century, no Michigan team has. Corum has now played significant roles in not just leading Michigan to two Big Ten titles but two College Football Playoff appearances. But he’s also played significant roles on two teams that fell two wins short of winning the whole damn thing.

That’s what’s on the line for Michigan this season. Lord knows the Wolverines are talented, and Corum’s return is one of the looming reasons why. He’s one reason I ranked them No. 2 in my preseason Top 25 despite the fact they gave up 51 in a Fiesta Bowl loss to a private parochial school program from North Texas.

RJ’s preseason Top 25 revealed

Another reason Corum chose to play out his senior season is to prove to the NFL that he’s healthy. If he plays this season at the level he did last year, there’s little doubt he’ll be considered a first-round talent, even if the NFL seems to be undervaluing his position.

Given the number of tailbacks in the NFL who are unhappy with their wages, to the point where they’re even looking to form their own mini-union, Corum is probably better served playing one more year at Michigan. At Big Ten Media Days I asked him, given how storied the running back position is at Michigan, does he feel running backs are undervalued at the highest professional level?

“I think running backs, for the longest, have been a big part of the game,” he told me. “I definitely feel like they’re (NFL franchises) undervaluing our position. And hopefully that changes. But if it doesn’t, I’m still gonna play. I love the game a lot.

“Hopefully, they just learn to appreciate the running backs a little more, because we do a lot for the game, and saying that we’re the lowest paid, it strikes a nerve for sure.”

Exclusive interviews: Michigan’s Blake Corum and Jim Harbaugh

When I put the same question to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, he answered tersely.

“I don’t worry about that,” Harbaugh told me. “It’s not undervalued in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s not undervalued in the Michigan football program.”

The same could be said about offensive line play at Michigan. As a matter of fact, Michigan has been one of the best offensive line programs of the last two decades.

It’s not just that they’re the first two-time winners of the prestigious Joe Moore Award, which is annually awarded to the nation’s best offensive line, it’s that they’ve been so steady about recruiting and developing the big men up front in Ann Arbor.

Since 2000, Michigan has had 22 offensive linemen selected in the NFL Draft, including five first-round picks, six NFL First Team All-Pro selections — Steve Hutchinson is responsible for five of them — three Rimington Award winners, and six consensus First Team All-Americans.

And Michigan is in a position to make history once again, according to Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy.

Nagy is a lot of things in both college football and the NFL. A cursory glance at his résumé reveals him to be an 18-year NFL scout, four-time Super Bowl winner, Senior Bowl Executive Director and ‘96 Michigan alumnus. His time in Ann Arbor overlapped with that of Tom Brady, and he was in New England when the legendary quarterback began his seven-time Super Bowl-winning run through the NFL.

Senior Bowl Director Jim Nagy on Michigan’s historically deep offensive line

The man knows football. So when he sent a tweet saying seven players in Sherrone Moore’s offensive line room at Michigan — Zak Zinter, Trevor Keegan, Drake Nugent, Trente Jones, Karsen Barnhart, Myles Hinton and LaDarius Henderson — could be drafted next April, that tweet got attention.

I asked Nagy, point-blank, what makes this group so good?

“Because they’re all NFL guys to one degree or another,” he said. “You’ve got seven guys at one school in the same class, RJ. This has happened before. There’s been other offensive line rooms around college football over the years since I’ve been in scouting that have had seven pros at the same time, but not in the same class.”

With an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, immediate eligibility out of the transfer portal and a legacy of developing NFL offensive linemen, Harbaugh and Moore were able to put together this group heading into the 2023 season.

It’s an example of Harbaugh, a Michigan Man, leaning on the tradition that created the championship culture he first came to love as a player.

“I think players want to go places where they feel like they’re gonna get developed to make it to the next level, right?” Nagy told me. “So there’s been all these NFL guys going back Steve Hutchinson, a gold jacket guy, there’ve been a number of them. I think Michigan’s getting back to the roots a little bit running the football with Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum being what they are.”

But don’t discount the environment that Ann Arbor provides — or doesn’t allow — either. Nagy, who lives in Mobile, Alabama, is quick to point out how climate plays a part in how an offense operates.

“You’re up in Michigan. You don’t need to throw it around,” he said. “We’re down here in Alabama. We’re down here in the South. It’s warm down here. You can throw it around through the season. You get up to Big Ten country around Halloween time in through Thanksgiving, you don’t know what you’re gonna get there at Michigan. You might have to play a couple snow games like they did last year.”

Now with a quarterback in J.J. McCarthy who everyone in the sport knows can sling it, a running back tandem that’s the best in the country, and likely seven future NFL linemen paving the way, expect the Wolverines to do more than show us their teeth. Expect them to hunt for the national title, giving opponents no quarter, no relief.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The Number One College Football Show.” Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.