Rating the 2024 Michigan Running Backs Room

The Michigan football program will have to replace arguably their best player, former Heisman Trophy candidate Blake Corum, this season after Corum was drafted by the NFL's Los Angeles Rams.

The Wolverines nevertheless return a host of talented players with big-game experience, including multiple players who have made huge plays in said big games.

College Football 25 video game cover star Donovan Edwards leads the way for Coach Sherrone Moore's running backs room, followed by Kalel Mullings, Benjamin Hall, and Tavierre Dunlap.

It may seem like Edwards has been around forever but the West Bloomfield, MI native is still just a junior.

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Edwards is the projected starter, an interesting development considering that he has made so many huge plays over the course of his NCAA career but still has not had a 1,000 yard season during his college days, coming closest in 2023 with 991 yards.

Last season, Edwards was able to conserve his energy behind Corum and delivered in the Wolverines' biggest games, including the National Championship Game vs. Washington when he rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries.

Edwards is an NFL caliber talent, a home run threat every time he carries the football who should thrive in a starting role, especially considering the strength of Michigan's offensive line and his backups at the running backs position.

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The competition for primary backup to Edwards should be fierce. Mullings is a physical specimen at 6-foot-2, 239 pounds.

He excels on trick plays and gadget plays such as the famous halfback pass he threw for a big first down in Michigan's 2023 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, OH.

Mullings has been a favorite of the coaching staff ever since he set foot on campus. Now a graduate student, he figures to reprise a similar role. Expect him to be the primary backup to Edwards in name only as his understudy, sophomore Benjamin Hall, finally begins to shine in the maize and blue helmet.

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Expect Hall to get the bulk of the carries behind Edwards and specialty plays drawn up for Mullings.

A native of Acworth, Georgia, Hall runs with power, persistence, assertiveness and leverage at 5-foot-11, 234 pounds. The star of last season's spring game, Hall has received plenty of intriguing comments from his teammates on social media hinting that he may have a bigger role this fall in Ann Arbor.

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Hall could become Michigan's surprise player on offense if he gets enough carries. He has the talent to share the workload with Edwards as the thunder to Edwards' lightning this season.

Behind Hall are senior Tavierre Dunlap and sophomore Cole Cabana.

Dunlap is a hard runner with good speed and vision who appears read to contribute, although the jury is out on his ability to become an every down back.

Cabana is a home run threat who can catch the ball out of the backfield and has blazing speed. He is the wild card among the Michigan football running backs room who could provide even more speed and versatility if he lives up to his lofty four-star ranking from his high school days in Dexter, MI.

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Michigan also brought in two freshman running backs with their 2024 recruiting class: Jordan Marshall and Micah Kaapana.

Marshall is by many accounts a Blake Corum like player and person both on and off the field who could vault up the depth chart with a strong fall camp.

Kaapana appears set for a redshirt type of year as he learns the ropes of Coach Moore and new offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell's system.

All things considered, the Wolverines are packed to the gills with talent, making this one of the most underrated running backs rooms in the country.

The Wolverines deserve an A- grade for their running backs room in 2024.

Along with an offensive line that returns plenty of experienced and talented players, a strong performance from this group could take Michigan from an under-the-radar, outside-looking-in type of team to a College Football Playoff participant in 2024-2025.

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