What Are Fair Expectations for Donovan Edwards in 2024?

What's realistic for Donovan Edwards?

The first major factor to consider is the state of Michigan’s offensive line. In 2022 Blake Corum ran behind a Joe Moore award winning group, and in 2023 he owed a good portion of his success to a unit that boasted significant experience and talent, lead by Zak Zinter, until his unfortunate injury against Ohio State. The makeup of Michigan’s line this year will be much different and will most certainly impact the amount of success that Donovan Edwards and the team’s running game will have.

Six of their lineman left for the NFL draft, but those who remain with the team do have some starting experience, especially Myles Hinton. Hinton has had a roller coaster career at Michigan football after transferring from Stanford, but he has the skills and experience to lead this offensive line next year and open holes for Michigan’s running backs to exploit. Others including Giovanni El-Hadi and graduate transfer Josh Priebe stand ready to be big contributors there.

But the truth is that no one knows exactly how Michigan’s offensive line will perform as a unit over an entire season. However, it is undeniable that Sherrone Moore has been able to consistently develop linemen no matter if they were average recruits, transfers, or marquee players. It’s certainly reasonable to expect that this group will help someone like Donovan Edwards dominate on the ground.

Another factor is the complimentary piece of what the Wolverines can bring to bear in the passing game. If nothing else the 2023 championship team showed how important a balanced offense is to high-level success. The combination of JJ McCarthy and Blake Corum was impossible to beat because it forced defenses to pick which aspect of the Wolverine offense they would try to stop, and in the end, no one found a way to stop them all. However, the 2024 team will likely not have that level of flexibility.