One of Michigan’s star players from their 2023 National Championship run has his sights set on the 2025 NFL Draft.
Donovan Edwards, the Wolverines’ running back who was a fixture in the team’s backfield for each of the last four years, finishes his collegiate career as a national champion and an NCAA Football cover athlete. He hopes to carry that success into the NFL.
Donovan Edwards’ Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’1″
- Weight: 212 pounds
- Position: Running Back
- School: Michigan
- Current Year: Senior
Scouting Report
Edwards grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and attended West Bloomfield High School. In his senior year, he ran for 1,502 yards and scored 30 touchdowns on the ground and won a state championship in the process. A five-star recruit coming out of high school, he decided to stay in the state and commit to Michigan as an early enrollee.
Though Edwards was a backup in his true freshman year in 2021, he still managed to make his mark on the Wolverines’ offense. He carried the ball 35 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 5.0 yards per carry. He saw significant opportunity as a receiver out of the backfield, ending the year with 20 catches for 265 yards and a touchdown. He also threw a 75-yard touchdown pass in the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa.
The 2022 season saw Edwards step into a much bigger role for Michigan’s offense. He formed a dangerous one-two punch out of the backfield alongside teammate Blake Corum. Edwards ended the year with 991 rushing yards on 140 carries – a 7.1 yards-per-carry average – with seven rushing touchdowns. He also recorded two receiving scores and finished with 200 receiving yards on 18 catches. He earned the Big Ten Championship MVP award for his 185-yard performance against Purdue.
Michigan made it to the four-man playoff in 2022, but after falling short in the semifinals, the Wolverines had their sights set on a championship in 2023. They succeeded, and Edwards played a big role in that. He ended the year with 746 total yards from scrimmage, scoring five touchdowns in the process.
It was Michigan’s run game that helped lead them to a championship, with Edwards (104 yards) and Corum (134 yards) becoming the first pair of teammates to each rush for over 100 yards in the National Championship Game. Edwards also became the first player in the BCS era to have two rushing touchdowns for over 40 yards in the title game.
The expectations were high in 2024 for Edwards, who received NFL looks but stayed at Michigan for his senior year. Corum had departed for the NFL, leaving the backfield in Edwards’ control. The latter was named as one of the three cover athletes for EA Sports College Football 25, marking the first edition of the game to come out since 2013.
Ultimately, though, Edwards didn’t break away as much as many expected. Instead, a slow start to the year saw him benched for Kalel Mullings, who had 948 rushing yards to Edwards’ 589 and 12 rushing touchdowns to Edwards’ four.
Strengths
- Well-built running back with an intriguing combination of size and speed.
- Has a history of home-run hitting ability, as 35.2% of his career rushing yards were picked up on runs that went 15+ yards.
- Offers ideal breakaway speed with the straight-line explosiveness needed to shoot through a gap and outrun defenders when he gets out into space.
- Agile runner with quick feet whose elusiveness allows him to evade incoming defenders well.
- Does a good job of varying his tempo out of the backfield to read the situation in the box and find the best path up the middle.
- Experienced and valuable receiving back whose career drop percentage is just 2.6%.
- Shifty runner whose agility gives him additional value after the catch as a receiving back.
- From one perspective, the fact he was a rotational back for a few years means he doesn’t have too much tread on his tires.
- Good one-cutback runner who has the burst to accelerate upfield through a running lane once he identifies it.
Weaknesses
- Was never the lead running back for Michigan’s offense.
- Has good size but doesn’t run with strength reflective of his dimensions.
- Typically goes down at the first sign of contact, and a higher center of gravity can hurt him in that regard.
- Contact balance when he runs in between the tackles isn’t tremendous, as bigger defenders can bring him down with pure strength, and smaller ones can do so with proper form tackling.
- Creativity as a runner isn’t all that great, as he lacks the improvisational skills needed to identify open running lanes outside of the tackles when there isn’t anything up the middle.
- Will have to answer for his drop-off in play in 2024 compared to his previous two seasons.
- Doesn’t deliver much pop when he lowers the shoulder, as he struggles with delivering force as much as he absorbs it.
- Sometimes looks indecisive when he’s running up the B-gap.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
In theory, Edwards has a lot of the tools to be a good running back in the NFL.
With a well-built frame, impressive acceleration skills, and quick feet when moving laterally, Edwards brings a lot to like from a physical perspective. He’s also a valuable pass-catching back with soft hands and creativity and agility that shines after the catch.
That said, Edwards didn’t have the 2024 season many expected of him, and he doesn’t fully maximize his tools as much as one would hope. He’s shown very good vision as a ball carrier, but there’s still inconsistency in his game in that regard. For as impressive as his build is, he doesn’t have the play strength or contact balance that one would hope for out of a bigger back.
Edwards looked like a potential Day 2 pick coming into the 2024 season, but his stock has fallen a bit since then. He’s still a draftable talent due to what he showed in previous years, as well as his athletic upside and his pass-catching ability. That said, Round 5 seems like the highest range he should be considered in, with Round 6 feeling like a more appropriate destination for him.
