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Michigan Football: The Mike Hart Effect — Why The Backs Have Been So Good

Michigan Wolverines football running backs Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum have both had excellent first halves of the season, while freshman Donovan Edwards trumps both in one area in more limited action. Position coach Mike Hart has clearly made a difference in the room, his tutelage paying huge dividends to a talent group.

Through six games, U-M’s running back trio has managed 1,223 yards and 18 touchdowns, and each has broken off a touchdown run of 50 yards or more. Frosh Corum leads the room with 101.67 yards per game followed by redshirt sophomore Haskins’ 82.

Edwards, meanwhile, leads the group with 7.1 yards per carry, followed by Corum’s 6.3 and Haskins’ 4.9.

The most astounding stat, though — the three of them have lost a combined six total yards in six games from the position, an indication that the offensive line is doing its job, the coaches and quarterback are getting them into the right plays and the backs are breaking some tackles.

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Michigan Wolverines football running backs coach Mike Hart is a big reason why U-M's offense has improved
Michigan Wolverines football running backs coach Mike Hart is a big reason why U-M's offense has improved (Clayton Sayfie / TheWolverine.com)
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“Yards after contact is huge,” Hart, one of Michigan’s best ever in that area (2004-07), said Wednesday. “Falling forward all the time, that’s how you want them to run. If it’s a huge hole they should be able to get yards … for example, Hassan making that guy in the open field miss [with a hurdle at Nebraska]. That’s yards after contact even though he didn’t get touched.

“Blake does the same thing in the open field a lot, too, where the guy may not touch him but he makes a move on him. Those are all yards after contact, and that’s what great running backs do – they get extra yards. If the linemen block It for five, they get eight or turn it into 20 or 30. That’s what you really look forward to.”

If a play is blocked for four yards, any back at this level should be able to get four, Hart noted. Too often, U-M backs since him have gotten the minimum and not much more.

“It’s those guys that get those hidden yards that we call them, so instead of second and six, it’s second and four after falling forward for two yards,” he continued. “That’s what you want to see, and they’re doing a great job of it.

It takes both strength and determination to make it happen, and all three have shown plenty of it, Hart added.

“I think it’s want-to. You have to want to do it, to not be scared of contact, and know that you want to fall forward,” he said. “But I think it comes down to No. 1, evaluating and bringing in good running backs that can break tackles, can fall forward. I think that’s huge in the evaluation process.

“No. 2, it translates from the weight room. You have to be strong to do those things; good squat, good bench, all those kinds of things that on contact you can fall forward.”

Or hurdle the guy like Haskins, one of the plays of the year. He picked up an extra 25 yards on a move Hart didn’t teach him.

“I can’t jump,” Hart said with a laugh. “I actually do not coach the hurdle. I think it’s … I’ve never seen anybody land it, but normally they land it and they get hit, so I usually don’t coach that.

“But it was a great run. I can’t believe he stayed on his feet. If it works, you can do what you want to do … as long as it works. It was a run over five yards, so he’s okay. Get more than five it’s hard to yell at them — now, if you get less than five and they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, I can coach them.”

Both Haskins and Corum are doing a great job in pass protection, too, another key aspect in keeping the offense humming. Cade McNamara has only been sacked once, and the backs are a reason why.

All told, it’s been the ‘Hart effect’ through six games, and it’s translated to six wins without a loss with the hope of more to come.

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