Michigan football is well into fall camp and the season is swiftly approaching.
There are plenty of position battles happening, like at quarterback, and players are trying to put themselves into better spots on the depth chart before week one.
The Wolverines lost a lot on the defense from the 2021 season, but Michigan returns a significant amount of experience from the non-starters last year. The Wolverines rotate so many players game-in-and-game-out that experience won’t be an issue for 2022. The Wolverines return most of their offense for 2022, save for Hassan Haskins and Andrew Steuber, but the Michigan offense should be extremely lethal this upcoming season.
One of the main talking points during the ‘preseason’ of college football is which players will have breakout years. Athlon Sports made a list of 50 players that could have breakout seasons in 2022. There were two Michigan players on that list: Junior Colson and Donovan Edwards.
Junior Colson, LB, Michigan
Michigan’s defense is looking for new faces to emerge with just three returning starters in place for 2022. Expect Colson to make a name for himself after recording 61 tackles as a true freshman last year
As a true freshman last year, Colson was fourth on the team with his 61 tackles, and he made a name for himself right off the bat for Michigan. The Wolverines have had plenty of top-notch linebackers come thru Ann Arbor, but you don’t see too many make a significant impact as a true freshman. But Colson is that exception. He was a freshman All-American after the 2021 season.
Heading into the 2022 campaign, Colson is going to be asked to anchor the linebacking core alongside Nikhai Hill-Green. Expect to see an even more explosive Colson this upcoming season in Ann Arbor.
The next player that was mentioned by Athlon Sports is sophomore Donovan Edwards.
Donovan Edwards, RB, Michigan
With Hassan Haskins off to the NFL, coach Jim Harbaugh will lean on Blake Corum to handle the bulk of the carries. However, similar to last season, Harbaugh and co-coordinators Matt Weiss and Sherrone Moore are going to get a second running back involved. Edwards is an easy pick for more opportunities this fall after running for 174 yards and three scores and catching 20 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman last season. Edwards is too talented to be on the sidelines and will be heavily involved in the offense.
Ever since Jim Harbaugh took the head coaching job in Ann Arbor he has deployed multiple running backs, never a true ‘workhouse’. This year won’t be any different. The Wolverines will trot out Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards — probably another one as well — on the field this year. We saw plenty of flashes last year as to why Edwards was a five-star recruit that had his pickings of any college in the country.
We know that Edwards is a good runner since he is a running back and all, but we saw in the Maryland game last year how special of a player he truly is. Edwards caught 10 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown against the Terps. Michigan will be able to utilize Edwards in so many ways for the 2022 season.
These two selections were pretty solid by Athlon Sports, but like always, there will be other players that really breakout during the 2022 season. There may even be another David Ojabo on the roster, someone who bursts onto the scene that nobody is talking about.
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Too high, too low, or just right?
These three are bound to have great years in 2022. #GoBlue
Michigan needs to seal the deal here
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