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Michigan Wolverines Football: Small But Mighty Blake Corum Ready To Impact

Last year was a frustrating one for Michigan Wolverines football running back Blake Corum. His first career touch as a collegian went for 23 yards on a swing pass, and he appeared to be off and running.

That’s when the brakes hit the floor.

The compact, 5-8 frosh finished the season with only 26 carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns while catching five passes for 73 yards, never looking truly comfortable in the backfield. He was hurrying to the hole, not able to get into the open field, and seemed frustrated with his role.

Some even wondered if he might explore the transfer portal in the offseason.

But Corum stuck around, and he’s gotten a huge boost in running backs coach Mike Hart. The former Wolverine has been everything Corum needed as a mentor … someone who played the position at his size, knows the game inside and out and has high expectations.

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Michigan Wolverines football running back Blake Corum is primed for a big second season
Michigan Wolverines football running back Blake Corum is primed for a big second season (USA Today Sports Images)
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Corum has watched film on his coach, and he acknowledged he’d be honored to be compared to him.

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“He’s been phenomenal ever since he stepped in this building,” Corum said. “He helps me on everything. In practice, I’m like, ‘Coach … what would you have done right here?’ He’s always giving good advice and what he sees.

“At the end of the day, I’m just trying to be like Coach Hart and be a great … to take what he did and apply it to my own game.”

Hart admitted Corum was faster than he ever was and put in more time, to that point that he’s one of the hardest workers the coach said he’s ever seen. His former high school teammate, linebacker Nikhail Hill-Green, insisted his friend is pound for pound the strongest player on the team, noting he could “put anything on his back and squat.”

Corum couldn’t say exactly how much he could put up, noting strength coach Ben Herbert goes for quantity of reps over huge amounts of weight. He did say he could lift 315 pounds 25 times — “and that’s at the end of the workout,” he said with a grin.

More than strength, though, he wants to work on being a better runner. He’s working on drills with Hart to wait for the hole to open, and it’s paid off to the point that he’s considered the co-No. 1 back with redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins.

“Something that I've been focusing on this offseason is staying patient, being patient, being a patient running back," Corum said. "Weight room gains, that's going to come every offseason when you put in the work, but there are drills you can do to work on patience.

“It was really just repetition … keeping it in mind when you’re going through workouts, when you’re going through practice. I just keep it in my mind, ‘Alright … be patient. Slow down,’ because sometimes I feel like I go too fast … but me slowing down is still fast.”

Hart would like him to slow down a little more, even, noting he needs to take a breath every now and then. He’s as hard a worker as there is on the team, and he doesn’t know any other way. He learned from his parents to put his all into everything he does, not just the weight room.

“MY dad has his own business. He built it from the ground,” he said. “My mom being a hard worker her whole life, too, and just them teaching me how it worked made me embrace everything I do.

"Whether it be the weight room, school, it doesn't matter. Everything I do … embrace it and give my fullest. You see the speed — it's hard to get faster You're kind of born with it. You can get a little bit faster, but you just have to be fast. Work ethic, you can become a hard worker. It just has to be installed in you. You’ve got to be wanting to do it; you have to have the drive. "

He’s got a ton of it, and he’s ready for a breakout season. He still has his detractors who say he’s ‘too short,’ but he uses that as fuel.

“Other people’s opinions don’t really matter,” Corum said. “They can say I’m short. All right — that’s fine. That’s your opinion. I know what I can do, and I know I’m going to do it to my best ability, and I have confidence in myself.

“At the end of the day, that’s just people talking. They can say whatever they want to say. There were probably people that didn’t believe in me, probably still don’t believe me. That’s going to happen.”

But having gone through winter workouts twice and living in the film room has prepared him to make an impact in 2021. He’s ready to make the most of it and bring the Wolverines back to relevance after a tough 2020.

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