Everything Mike Hart said during his pre-Minnesota press conference

I think Kalel is special. He's a special back, he's big, he's fast, he's explosive. He's got good vision. He's got good hands. He can pass pro. He can do it all. He's just been growing week by week. You guys see it on the field, he's fun to watch and he runs hard.

On Donovan Edwards staying positive during a slow start to the season

Donovan is a great young man, he's excited for everyone's success. Obviously, it's not the start he wanted, he's a guy that is just getting better and better every week. Watching him improve, obviously, coming off those injuries last year, he's getting back to where he needs to be. Just really happy for him. With his attitude. Obviously, you have to keep a positive attitude and he's doing that. It's fun to see. He's just a great team player.

On what is different coaching a player like Mullings

It's not anything different. You coach him like he's a freshman. Coach a sophomore like he's a sophomore. Coach a junior like he's a junior. He's a smart young man. Really, really smart. He gets it, he understands and he takes coaching. It's really easy to coach Kalel.

On whether he's involved with J.J. in the running game

I just think it's run game planning, right? It's part of the run gameplan we do on Mondays and Tuesdays. Whether it's short-yardage, whether it's first or second down. Obviously, we want to put ourselves in the best possible position we can to have success. Sometimes that's J.J. using his legs and we have to do that. He's doing a great job with decision-making, which is really impressive. He's pulling the ball at the right time and doing the right things. He helps us get out of a lot of short-yardage situations when they might want to load the box.

On whether being the acting head coach has made him a better coach

Not really, to be honest with you. I'm the running back coach now, so I just go back to coaching the running backs. It's great to have Coach Harbaugh back. He makes the decisions, you don't have to make decisions. My job is strictly to coach the running backs and that's what I do.

On whether there was anything he could relate to in his career with Edwards' slow start

Was it a slow start? I don't know if it's a slow start. He probably said that. You can do with the opportunities you're given. You could say Blake started slow if you wanted, right? I was the guy, I carried the ball 40 times a game. I had a lot of opportunities. When you're limited in opportunities, you only have so many chances to make plays. The thing is just being consistent and the consistency of getting four and five yards. That's what he's doing, that's what he did last week. Those big plays will happen. Excited to see him over the next couple of weeks.

On what he looks for to see how his team is improving against inferior competition

I just think it's getting better every week. It doesn't matter who you play, as long as you're getting better every week, which we're doing. The teams we've played weren't bad teams, they all had winning records, to be honest with you, pretty much. We played some good teams. I think UNLV is 4-1, I think? Are they? Pretty sure they're 4-1. We played good teams. We've played teams with different defensive fronts, giving different looks. Those are all opportunities to get better. With our O-line, with our pass game. Some people want to stop the run so we can throw the ball. I just think it gives us confidence as a team and then going into Nebraska, obviously, the number one rush defense in the country, being able to run on them was impressive and we're going to have another challenge this week against Minnesota as well. They're a solid defense and they play really good. They should really be 4-1, to be honest with you.

On how he decides how the touches are divided

Practice, we roll. Guys get reps, we try to give equal reps in practice so everybody can get those opportunities with the same plays. Obviously, short-yardage, we have a short-yardage period. In that period, it's Blake and Kalel getting those reps because they are the short-yardage backs. Really, as you get into the game, it's flow and how I feel. It's really just gut, to be honest with you. Blake has a bunch of carries and I want to take short-yardage off him and put Kalel in the game and give Kalel some of those reps. Same thing if it's a long drive, you put Donovan in the game. Donovan always goes in the third drive of the game as a starter in the backfield. That's the consistent thing that I do. Besides that, it's just game flow. Is it a long drive? Donovan will get in early. You just go with the flow. If it's a long drive then you gotta take Blake out and put Donovan in and get Kalel in and do what he have to do. I really don't decide how many reps they're going to get, how many carries they're going to get before the game. It just depends on how they're running and who is running the best. Those are the guys who are going to get the carries.

On Cole Cabana

Cole is getting better every week. He got banged up in spring, he didn't play in the spring game and banged up in fall camp. Nothing major at all. He's getting better every day. Obviously, we have those opportunity scrimmages on Monday that coach has talked about. He does a great job in them. Again, we're deep in the backfield right now. He has to continue to get better and he's going to be a talented kid, he has a lot of talent. He has a skillset like Donovan, to be honest with you. He's explosive, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. He's fast but it's just where do you put him in right now? That's where you don't put someone in the game to put them in the game. Right now, the best guys are gonna play and that's who is playing.

On the type of mentality it takes to perform while injured

You have to be mentally strong, right? That's what it comes down to. To play through an injury, no one is 100% once the season starts. Some injuries are worse than others. As you know, Donovan played with a broken hand last year for a couple games and delayed surgery. Donovan is a mentally strong kid. Some injuries you could play through, some you can't. I think it just comes down to your mental strength and you have to be tough. You have to be tough to play through injury and play with injury. Blake's tough, Kalel's tough, Donovan's tough, all those guys are tough. It's fun to coach them.

On whether he was tough

I would hope so.

On Ben Hall

Ben Hall is going to be good. Same thing I said about Cole Cabana, right? Ben Hall is going to be a good player. I think you guys saw that during the spring game. Fall camp, he shows up every day, he's working every day. He's one of the hardest workers on the team. Just excited about his future. If we needed Ben Hall, Ben Hall could play right now.

On Hall's work ethic

I think he's jut a kid who is here at 7 o'clock in the morning and doing what he has to do to be better. Sometimes he's out there on the field running around, doing bag drills by himself. No one tells him to do that, he just does that on his own. On his official visit, the kid woke up and ran down to the facility and ran back home. I saw him running down the street. That's the kind of kid that he is. He's going to show up and work every day and he's going to be the best version of Ben Hall that he can.

On whether Edwards can incorporate Corum's running style into his own

I think they go hand in hand, right? You go north-south and then you shimmy. But you have to go north and south before you make somebody miss at the second level. The shimmy happens at the second level when you're trying to make the safety miss. You have to be a north and south running back in some of our schemes and you have to be downhill and that's the big thing that we preach, get four, five yards and those big plays will happen. He's doing a great job. Last week in the first half, he was downhill, running through people and that's what we want to see and that's what he's doing.

On giving less carries to preserve running backs

I think the biggest thing is what we have to do to win the game. I think those 30-carry games last year was when people were banged up and we didn't have as much depth. Something we don't have to do this year. You'd rather have a fresh guy in there. My mentality is that I don't want somebody to carry the ball 30 times just like Jim's. There's no need, with what we have right now, for that to happen. Can it happen? Yeah, that can happen based on how the game is going but it's not something I really want to do. I want to get through this year with everyone healthy and get to where we want to get to with everybody as healthy as they can be.

On his message to other backs about redshirts and waiting their turn

I think that the message is always the same. Be ready. You never know when you're going to be called upon so prepare as if you're the starter. Donovan Edwards didn't play much his freshman year, the first half of the year. Blake Corum didn't play that much his freshman year. That's the message that you're not going to come in and play as a freshman all the time. It's based on what we need and how we need it. There's positives, just show up and do the work every day and that's the kind room we have, the kind of team we have that these guys are just unselfish and they get it. When you have Blake Corum, you have Donovan Edwards and you have Kalel Mullings, you understand that these guys are good running backs and it doesn't stop them from being the best version of themselves that they can be. They're waiting on their number to be called and maybe, it may be called at some point this year. We usually don't stay healthy throughout the whole year so.just keeping those guys prepared, mentally strong and mentally ready to go is my job as a coach.

On Corum catching him in the record books

As long as he doesn't catch my yardage record, I'm OK. Actually, I wish he would catch it, that would be awesome, that's a lot of yards. It doesn't bother me at all. It's something that he's worked for. Hopefully, we'll get his name on the record chart before he gets out of here.

On whether Corum has talked to him about the record

He hasn't said it yet, he's probably thinking it. He'll probably say it today, honestly. He's close, he's one away. He better get it this week. He better pass me this week, to be honest with you.

On whether he talks to Edwards about the homerun plays and for him to focus on what he can get

I think he mentioned it yesterday in his interview that he was looking for big plays. It's something we talk about. As I always tell him, the big plays will come. That's the one thing I always do tell him, you gotta run downhill. It's nothing that he didn't say yesterday. He gets it, he understands it. As I said, it's hard. When you only get 13 carries, you want to get a big play. It's just having the mental fortitude to say, hey, I'm going to get four to five yards and those big plays will happen and just trust the process. That's where he is mentally and I'm proud of him. Proud of everything that he's doing because it's not easy. When you have such high expectations and he doesn't have a touchdown this year. The mental attitude that he has is really impressive for a young man.

On Corum being back to himself

I would say Rutgers game he was back to being Blake. Again, it's just opportunity. He had more carries that game. Again, it's the confidence of getting everything back after being gone and not getting hit in fall camp. It's a long season. As long as these guys continue to get better every week, which they're doing, they'll be ready to roll when it's time to really, really go when we need them. Just proud of them all.

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