Blake Corum powers forward in a final run to lift Michigan from turmoil to glory
At 5-8 and 213 pounds with a low center of gravity, Blake Corum anchors Michigan’s offense, if not the entire program.
Amidst the turmoil of a scandal, the running back perseveres. He grinds. He leads. He says all the right things. More importantly, he does all the right things. It’s hard to take him down and impossible to keep him down.
Before a November injury derailed his Heisman campaign last year, Corum was setting the tone for Michigan’s run to a second straight appearance in the College Football Playoff. After surgery on a torn meniscus and offseason rehab, Corum — hellbent not only on getting back to the CFP but winning it — resumed his leading role.
If anyone on the roster epitomizes Michigan’s grit, it’s the 2020 4-star recruit out of Laurel, Md.
Back in his home state on Saturday, Corum put that grit on display. Stoned on a 2nd-and-goal from the 1, he blasted into the end zone on the next play, knocking a Maryland defender on his heels. Corum never did go down on the play. The TD gave Michigan a 23-3 second-quarter lead, which the Wolverines nursed to a 31-24 victory over the pesky Terrapins.
As 5-star quarterback JJ McCarthy struggled and the pass defense sprung some leaks, Corum kept pounding away — a season-high 28 carries. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy. It was work. He finished with 94 rushing yards, 3.4 per carry. His 2 touchdowns came on runs of 2 and 1 yards, and his long carry covered just 14 yards. He closed the game with 5 runs for 14 yards to bleed the final 3:36 off the clock.
Whatever it takes.
Blake Corum’s final run …
Before November, Corum was flying under the national radar. McCarthy, the junior second-year starter with the 5-star pedigree, was soaking up the Heisman buzz that comes with leading an unbeaten, top-5 program.
Corum had no qualms with that. He was back to chase a championship, not an individual trophy. Coming off the knee injury, he was eased back into the offense. He recorded just 1 100-yard game through Michigan’s 9-0 start. He resumed true workhorse status just 2 weeks ago, when he posted 26 carries for a season-high 145 yards at Penn State.
It’s a vastly different dynamic from a year ago, when Corum posted 8 straight 100-yard games, including a 243-yard outing vs. Maryland. It’s been much more of a grind this season, partly because Michigan’s line has battled the injury bug. Corum’s yards per carry rate is down from 5.9 to 4.9, and his per-game average is down more than 40 yards at 80.7. He’s still 112 yards short of 1,000 entering Week 13.
Nonetheless, he looks as ready as he can be for Saturday’s battle of unbeatens against No. 2 Ohio State, also 11-0 and slotted 1 rung above the Wolverines in the latest CFP rankings. It appears Michigan will need to lean heavily upon him, as McCarthy hasn’t looked right while going without a TD pass over the past 3 games. The slumping quarterback completed a season-low 52.2% of his passes against Maryland after throwing for just 60 yards against Penn State.
Michigan got by without Corum last year in The Game. A week after suffering his injury against Illinois, Corum ran twice for 6 yards against the Buckeyes before conceding that his season was done.
He could have left for the NFL after his breakout 1,463-yard rushing season in 2022, after which he was chosen Michigan’s first Big Ten Running Back of the Year.
Because he arrived in Ann Arbor during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season, he also has the option to return in 2024 for a bonus senior season. But he has already announced that this is his final college season.
He’s dead set on making the most of it.
“I didn’t come back for stats, I didn’t come back for TDs, I came back for these guys. … I came back to win,” Corum exclaimed in the aftermath of the Wolverines’ 24-15 victory over Penn State.
With or without a national title, he’ll leave quite a legacy. His 51 rushing touchdowns are a program record; he broke a tie with Anthony Thomas (1997-2000) with his 2 ground scores against Maryland. He’s No. 8 in career rushing yards (3,380), with a shot to finish in the top 5.
He’ll remain a steadfast Michigan Man, at least for another 6 weeks or so, even as turmoil envelopes the program. Jim Harbaugh serves 3-game suspensions to bookend the regular-season? Corum keeps working. He himself gets tied to a seemingly shady business arrangement with ousted sign-stealing analyst Connor Stalions? Corum won’t be distracted. (He denies business ties to Stalions.)
“Everything that’s going on right now is just bringing us closer together,” Corum insists.
Blake Corum isn’t running away from anything. For a couple more games at Michigan, he’ll be running through obstacles and toward the program’s first national title since 1997. As long as the NCAA isn’t going to take any imminent action, the fallout can wait.
In a sense, you can say Corum came back for The Game. Because all the rest hinges on a do-or-die Saturday afternoon 6 days hence.
Blake Corum is ready.