Key quotes from Mike Hart's appearance on Inside Michigan Football

I mean I think a lot of people are used to us running for—Dono getting 100 yards, Blake getting 100 yards, running for 250-300 a game. Sometimes the opponent you play dictates what you can and cannot do. You're selling out for the run 100%, which is why the play-action was so wide-open. They had safeties lining up about seven yards. You only got six blockers, it's hard to block 10 people. Sometimes you can't be hard-headed as coaches. You have to do what the defense is giving you and I think JJ could've thrown for 600 yards if we would've kept throwing the ball down the field on them in the second half. It's hard to run against that type of defense. If you look at the type of passes that we threw, guys were running and screaming wide-open and every defender was in the box. You can run the ball, we'll run the ball and it's actually great to be able to be 50-50 and not have to count on the run game all the time. JJ is special, our receivers are special, our tight ends are special and I think that's what we need to develop as a team to take the next steps and I think we did that on Saturday knowing that we can throw the ball.

On Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum

I think they're both special players as we already know but they can both catch the balls as well. We could start Donovan at slot receiver if we needed him to or I wanted him to. He's a multi-talented kid, especially out of the backfield with his hands. He can run the ball, too. He's a true running back. Blake can catch the ball as well. You're hoping as you gameplan, they have to pick their position. What do they want to do, who do they want to put on Dono, who do they want to put on Blake? When we get into those types of games, take advantage of those mismatches because it's hard to guard Donovan. If you're guarding Donovan, Blake can do the same thing out of the other side of the backfield. Run the ball with both of them in the game, we had Kalel and Dono in the game as well, Kalel is a big back that can run really well. It's fun to be able to use all three of those guys and put gameplans together knowing that Donovan can literally line up at the X or Z receiver if we needed him to to run routes.

On dividing the reps in the running back room

I think it just shows who those two are as people. Dono, this year with Blake coming back, he could've left and went somewhere else in the transfer portal. Both of those guys, Blake coming back, Dono happy that he's coming back knowing that they both won't have to take a beating and that they're both going to share the reps and share the carries. Game-to-game, Dono might have more touches, Blake might have more touches but the great thing is they both want each other to have success. They want the team to have success, they want to win games. They weren't upset that they didn't have 20 carries each this past weekend. They're happy that we won the game. It just shows you who they are. It's a blessing and a curse. You gotta get them both the ball. As long as they stay healthy, they'll be splitting the reps as far as I see it.

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