Jim Harbaugh was forthright with the information during Big Ten Media Day this week, and he had plenty of good things to say about some of his freshmen. One in particular — running back Donovan Edwards — is in the mix at running back, and he's going to play, Harbaugh insisted.
Redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins and freshman Blake Corum are 1 and 1a, the coach noted, but Edwards has special potential and will have his role.
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"Donovan is going to be really good. He’s got that competitive part about him, and the thing Donovan understands is that it takes the whole team to win a championship," Harbaugh said. "Nobody is winning any championship unless it’s the team. He speaks that team language as good as anybody I’ve every been around. He’s like a blessing that way, and he won a championship at West Bloom[field] (Mich.), so he knows.
"He's’ going to be in the mix. You’ll be seeing Donovan Edwards game one. Hassan and Blake Corum, they’re kind of like running backs one and one. As we sit here today, those three are up there high to where it would be a three-back type of rotation."
They'll be leaning on Haskins and Corum the most, he added, but Edwards is the home run hitter.
"Donovan has the ability to really hit the big ones," Harbaugh said. "So do Blake and Hassan, but Donovan, he's got a vision of it being extremely good."
But Haskins had the best spring of all of them, and he's got the chance to take first reps in the opener. He looked the part in Indianapolis, chiseled and confident.
"Hassan is a freak athlete — he's a freak of athleticism and strength," Harbaugh continued. "That’s a guy who like high jumped 6-7 in high school, rushed for like 1,400 yards, had 11 sacks as an outside linebacker. He could be a great outside linebacker.
"He is arguably our best special teams player, most productive. Kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return. Whatever the play is blocked for, he is getting at least another yard or two. If it's zero, he's probably going to get one yard. If it's blocked for two, he'll get four; four, he'll get six."
And he's so humble that he wouldn't want to hear the praise, Harbaugh added. That's one of the things that makes him special.
"There’s nobody I love more than Hassan Haskins on our football team. As a coach, you love him," he said. "I know Mike [Hart] is going to love him. Hassan is going to love Mike.
"He’s a real football player. I've been around him now … just the humility he has, but he is tough as can be. You love coaching a player like Hassan Haskins."
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