Michigan running back Donovan Edwards has returned for his senior season to help lead the Wolverines, but he prefers not to be called “RB1” heading into fall camp.
Edwards, a standout from the CFP National Championship Game, emphasized that he believes in earning his role on the 2024 U-M team just like everyone else.
“I don’t like the, ‘This is my running back room.’ I’m over that now,” Edwards said in an exclusive interview with 247Sports. “Each person in my room has the chance to be running back one as well. They have the chance to get 20-plus carries as well. Whether it be Kalel Mullings, me, Ben Hall, you name it. I don’t like that title because we all have a fair share in the success of the program.”
Edwards sees himself as a team leader. A former five-star prospect from West Bloomfield, Mich., he has played an important role in three straight Big Ten-winning seasons and the 2023 national championship.
As he begins his senior year, Edwards knows he must uphold the program’s standard among a group of players who haven’t experienced much losing.
“I think our challenge is we lost a lot of guys who understood what this culture and what this program is all about,” Edwards said. “We were at the point where we were very low till now we reached the pinnacle. And I would say that there are guys who walked into a 15-0 season, right? You were there with all the success. But we’ve lost games. We lost to Michigan State before. We lost to Georgia. We lost to TCU. And I have that remembrance and that fire within me.
“Our junior class, they were there: Will Johnson, Alex Orji, Colston Loveland, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, you name it, they were all there. Rod Moore, Makari Paige. We were all there. And I think it’s our obligation as leaders to uplift the guys. It’s like: Hey, anything can happen. We can lose games. We don’t want to lose games. And that’s not what we’re planning on doing. But we’ve walked in here with a 15-0 championship. We had to be humble and say to ourselves, ‘We have to go do it again. We have our rings, but put those rings aside. Come back to it when your college career is over.’
“So now let’s go in here and let’s go be humble. Let’s go be hungry because now we’re being hunted. We’re at the top of the pinnacle. And there’s a lot of guys that just left that were tremendous leaders for us. And now we have to have new leaders step up on this team and for this program. And that’s where we’re at.
“And there’s no doubt in my mind that we have those guys that are capable and that are going to rise up to that challenge to be the ultimate leaders and bring other people along with us to — as Coach Harbaugh said — help push the train and not be steak eaters.
“We will have no steak eaters on this team. And if there are, I told them, if there are, if you don’t want to be about that, you could just straight up leave. We don’t like that. We don’t want that on this team, man.
“I feel like that’s what sets us apart is we are very open to acknowledging others’ success, but we’re quick to get on somebody: ‘Yo, you’re on BS right now. Tighten it up.’
“I had a redshirt freshman tell me I was on BS one time. Did I think I was? Not really, but I appreciated that he checked me, though. Because now he gets to see that while one of our leaders — call it whatever it may be — that I can say this to him and he respects me saying it to him.”
Watch: Donovan Edwards interviews with 247Sports
247Sports National College Football Reporter Brandon Marcello is joined by Michigan Wolverines Running Back Donovan Edwards to discuss what it is like to be featured on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25 along with Texas QB Quinn Ewers and Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter.
