Michigan Football: Will Donovan Edwards have prominent role in 2021?

Jim Harbaugh is facing a critical season with Michigan football, fresh off a 2-4 campaign which was the low point of his coaching career.

Some fans wanted a coaching change while the athletic department decided to extend Harbaugh, but made his buyout less expensive. Basically, Jim is on a short leash in 2021 and beyond with expectations high and results leaving a lot to be desired.

While Harbaugh hasn’t quite delivered championships and big bowl wins on the field, he’s still recruiting at a high level and even landed one of the best quarterbacks (JJ McCarthy) and running backs (Donovan Edwards) in the entire 2021 class.

McCarthy is going to be battling with Cade McNamara and Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman for the starting job, but the running back spot might not be as sewn up.

Hassan Haskins is the projected starter after a “breakout” season in 2020 with a team-high 375 yards and six touchdowns on 6.1 yards per touch and Blake Corum looks like the backup early on. But with Zach Charbonnet transferring to UCLA and Chris Evans moving on to the NFL, there’s a good chance we’ll see some Edwards early on.

Haskins should get a bulk of the carries but Edwards will likely be duking it out with Corum for the RB2 role and I wouldn’t be totally shocked to see the top-50 recruit win the job.

Michigan football needs Edwards to break out

With Haskins entering his senior year and Charbonnet transferring out after being a promising young back, Michigan needs a breakout season, of sorts, from Edwards.

The West Bloomfield, Mich., prospect was one of the most highly sought-after prospects in the 2021 class and when Michigan landed him over some of the top programs in college football, it was a massive win and it was almost expected that he’d have a big role early on — especially when Allen Trieu compares him to Alvin Kamara.

The 5-11, 190-pounder was an early enrollee so he’s learned the offense already and he could have an advantage because of his natural talent level and his knowledge of the playbook.

Corum may have high expectations, but a Michigan offense with Edwards leading the way has a much higher ceiling.

Will he have a prominent role in 2021? I would say yes because Harbaugh’s job may depend on it.