{"id":18549,"date":"2023-10-04T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=18549"},"modified":"2023-10-04T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T17:30:00","slug":"donovan-edwards-discusses-challenge-from-michigan-coaching-staff-the-haters-and-critics-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/donovan-edwards-discusses-challenge-from-michigan-coaching-staff-the-haters-and-critics-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Donovan Edwards discusses challenge from Michigan coaching staff, the \u2018haters\u2019 and \u2018critics,\u2019 more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through five games, Michigan Wolverines football<\/a> <\/strong>junior running back Donovan Edwards<\/a><\/strong> is off to what he described as a \u201cslow start.\u201d Edwards averaged 7.1 yards per carry last season but is recording just 3.3 per rush this fall, carrying 47 times for 157 yards with no touchdowns. <\/p>\n

Speaking with reporters Tuesday night after practice, Edwards repeated the phrase, \u201ceverything is alright\u201d several times. He\u2019s been disappointed with the way his season has started, but not discouraged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more games to come,\u201d the 6-foot-1, 210-pound West Bloomfield (Mich.) High product said. \u201cI\u2019m not trippin\u2019 at all \u2014 not one bit. I know that I get bashed a little bit \u2014 and critics are critics; who cares. But at the end of the day, I know what I can improve on, I know what I\u2019m doing well, and that\u2019s all I can continue to do is be me, not get down on myself, just keep my head up and continue to work. That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to continue to do; that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing my whole life. \u2026 It\u2019s all we can do is just continue to be gritty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards said Saturday after a 45-7 win over Nebraska that his Michigan coaches told him he was running \u201cpassive\u201d in the first four contests.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just running harder, just trusting everything,\u201d the Michigan back said. \u201cNot to say that I don\u2019t, but I guess I find myself second guessing things, searching for the big plays when the big plays are going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is wrong. Honestly, nothing is wrong. Just wait until \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s been four games, five games. Just wait. If I don\u2019t play great by the playoffs, Big Ten championship, Ohio State, then you got something to say. But it\u2019s Week 5. Just give me a chance. Everything is alright right now. Everything is alright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards ran harder against the Cornhuskers, with 3 runs of 4 yards, 1 rush of 6 yards and gains of 8 and 9 yards, in addition to the rest of his attempts. He finished with 14 carries for 48 yards \u2014\u00a0not eye-popping numbers, but a sign of progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast game was a good game for me,\u201d Edwards explained. \u201cI ran hard, I hit the holes better, just looking for things. Of course I want the big plays, but those are going to come. The coaches have done a great job of telling me to just worry about getting the 4 yards, the 5 yards, the 6 yards. And they challenged me, and that\u2019s what I needed. I needed that. I\u2019m just going to continue to do my thing, continue to run hard, hit the hole when it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards second guessing himself with the ball in his hands might have something to do with his high expectations for himself and those that others set for him. The 2022 Big Ten championship game MVP ripped off 75- and 85-yard touchdown runs against Ohio State, had a 50-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the Fiesta Bowl and broke off multiple explosive runs against Penn State. The Michigan back said he does believe that the expectations may have been inflated.<\/p>\n

Edwards mentioned \u201ccritics\u201d a few times during his 13-minute session with the media, though he said he doesn\u2019t pay much attention to them Even so, the fact that he\u2019s been criticized for his slow start to the season says something about his talent level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe critics? Who cares,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cPeople are always going to say what they want to say. [Los Angeles Lakers forward] LeBron James<\/strong> has critics, [former NBA star] Michael Jordan<\/strong> has critics, [late professional boxer] Muhammad Ali<\/strong> had critics. The greatest athletes have critics. At this point in time, I\u2019m not in that same situation as them and people are bashing me \u2014 I feel like I\u2019m great, too. If you ain\u2019t getting no haters, you\u2019re doing something wrong. So clearly, I\u2019m doing something right.\u201d<\/p>\n

More snaps at receiver coming for Donovan Edwards?<\/h2>\n

Michigan has seen senior running back Kalel Mullings<\/a><\/strong> emerge over the last two games, with 11 carries for 83 yards and a score. Mullings saw all 5 of his rushes against Nebraska come on 3rd or 4th down, and he picked up a first down, including 1 touchdown, on every attempt.<\/p>\n

Edwards was asked if he expects to play more out of the slot or out wide given that Mullings has taken a step forward in joining the rotation with he and senior Blake Corum<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the coaches need me to do, I\u2019m going to embrace it,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI love seeing Kalel get the touchdown. I might be a little bit jealous that he got a touchdown before me. I\u2019m just playing. I love it. I\u2019m excited. I love being able to look at Blake eating, Kalel eating, [senior wide receiver] Roman [Wilson<\/a><\/strong>] eating, [junior quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy<\/a><\/strong>] eating, the offensive line is doing a hell of a job. I love to see it. That\u2019s it. I just love the success of the team and the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards reiterated that he\u2019ll do what\u2019s best for the Michigan team in terms of a role going forward, prioritizing winning over individual statistics, playing time or notoriety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have fantastic receivers on the team,\u201d Edwards continued. \u201cI\u2019m not deciding where I line up or how many reps I get, but best believe I\u2019m going to be happy wherever I am, and more importantly the team\u2019s success and winning football games, that\u2019s more important on me being like, \u2018Ah, I want to play receiver. Ah, one more touch. I want more playing time.\u2019 That means nothing to me right now. It\u2019s important to win ball games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Donovan Edwards discusses challenge from Michigan coaching staff, the \u2018haters\u2019 and \u2018critics,\u2019 more<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through five games, Michigan Wolverines football junior running back Donovan Edwards is off to what…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}