One of the faces of EA Sports College Football 25, a team captain and the man known as “Big Game Don” for Michigan football has played his final game for the Maize and Blue.
Senior running back Donovan Edwards spoke with WXYZ-TV on Saturday in Troy at the football team’s toy drive at Somerset Mall, where it became clear he’s done suiting up for the Wolverines — he will sit out of U-M’s New Year’s Eve ReliaQuest Bowl matchup vs. Alabama — and has turned his attention toward a professional career in the NFL.
“I just have a lot on my mind right now,” Edwards said over the weekend. “I haven’t really had the opportunity to look back and reflect, but for the most part, I’ve always been grateful for all the support that the Michigan fans have given me. … This place will always have a special place in my heart.”
The senior and former five-star recruit out of West Bloomfield was second on the Wolverines in 2024 in carries (128), rushing yards (589) and rushing touchdowns (four). It is expected he will soon declare for the 2025 NFL draft, following defensive tackle Mason Graham, tight end Colston Loveland and offensive lineman Myles Hinton, whom all announced their decisions this past week.
Edwards ends his career second all-time in receiving yards by a Michigan running back with (797), finishing 13 yards behind Anthony Thomas (810).
Edwards looked well on pace for this record for some time. After catching 20 passes for 265 yards as a freshman, he added 18 grabs for 200 yards as a sophomore. Though the big plays were down as a junior, he was used more than ever in the pass game in 2023, with 30 catches for 265 yards.
He needed just 97 yards to do it, which would be just more than eight per game, however, this year U-M had largely gone away from Edwards through the air. He entered the finale against OSU with 16 catches for 81 yards much of which (four grabs for 17 yards) came the week prior against Northwestern.
Still, the dynamic former five-star from West Bloomfield entered Ann Arbor with hype and has lived up to it in a number of ways. He has more than 3,000 all-purpose yards to go with 23 touchdowns and is a three-time Big Ten champion, Rose Bowl champion and national champion.
He was also a perfect 4-0 against Ohio State.
That includes the most historic game of his career: at Ohio State in 2022. In his first career start, he stepped in for injured Heisman-favorite Blake Corum and ran 22 times for 216 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter, to deliver U-M its first win in Columbus in more than two decades.
Edwards, who ran 422 times for 2,251 yards (5.3 yards per carry) in his career, followed that with 189 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in the Big Ten Championship game as he rose to stardom.
As a freshman, Edwards hauled in 10 receptions for 170 yards for a touchdown, which not surprisingly included his career-long reception of 77 yards in what ended as a 59-18 win over Maryland.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football’s Donovan Edwards opts out of bowl game vs Alabama
