INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — On a late-November evening, Donovan Edwards was showing off just why he was such a highly-touted recruit. And Mike Locksley is eager to forget it.
Though he wishes to, he cannot.
The Maryland head coach had hoped for a better outcome for his Terps on Nov. 20, 2021, as they hosted a surging Michigan football team. The Wolverines had everything to lose with the Big Ten East on the line and Ohio State looming the following week. Simultaneously, several players and staff followed along with the Buckeyes’ drubbing of fellow rival MSU during pregame warmups, knowing a battle was forthcoming. But for the true freshman running back out of West Bloomfield (Mich.), he wasn’t going to be denied that day in College Park, as he collected 10 catches for 170 yards — a Michigan receiving record from the running back position.
“He made a bunch of plays for them, I do know that,” Locksley said at Big Ten media days on Tuesday. “Across the board, when we played them at that time, obviously the score was indicative that they made a ton of plays all over the field, and they did it in all three phases.
“They were a really good team a year ago. Obviously, No. 7 was one of their guys that was a playmaker and did a tremendous job.”
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The next step for Edwards requires extrapolating that one game into a full season while adding his running prowess to the mix. The tailback managed to out-catch his ground production on the year, reeling in 20 passes for 265 yards and one touchdown, while rushing for 174 yards on 35 carries in his first year of college football.
Now that lead back Hassan Haskins is off to the NFL, Edwards — along with junior star Blake Corum — will carry the load.
His head coach, Jim Harbaugh, has often noted that a player makes their biggest leap from the first week of the season to the next, but what about from their first year to their second? As a five-star (according to 247Sports’ proprietary rankings), Edwards has serious potential, but the difference between potential and production takes a lot of will and determination — attributes Edwards has in spades.
“Yeah, I totally agree,” Harbaugh said of the freshman to sophomore leap. “I mean, freshman year to sophomore year…