Previously: Last year’s profiles. P Tommy Doman Jr. S Rod Moore. CB Ja’Den McBurrows. LB Jaydon Hood. LB Junior Colson. LB Tyler McLaurin. DE Kechaun Bennett. DE TJ Guy. DE/DT Dominick Giudice. DT George Rooks. DT Rayshaun Benny. NG Ikechukwu Iwunnah. C Greg Crippen. C/G Raheem Anderson. T Giovanni El-Hadi. T Tristan Bounds. TE Louis Hansen. WR Cristian Dixon. WR Xavier Worthy. WR Andrel Anthony Jr. RB Tavierre Dunlap.
West Bloomfield, MI – 6’0”, 202
[Nasternak]
247: 4.85* 5*, 98, #33 overall #2 RB, #1 MI
Rivals: 4.74* 4*, 6.0, #59 overall #3 RB, #2 MI
ESPN: 4.67* 4*, 86, #7 MW, #68 ovr #4 RB, #4 MI
Composite: 4.76* 4*, .9806, #42 overall #4 RB, #2 MI
Other Suitors UGA, Okla, OSU, ND
YMRMFSPA Reggie Bush but Human
Previously On MGoBlog Hello post by Ace.
Notes Twitter. Early enrollee. All-American. Mr. Football. State Champs.
Film:
Senior Highlights: More Film: Hudl page. The Belleville game. The State Finals.
We did it! Somehow, despite producing the most perfect running back for college football in 2021 at the most perfect school for Michigan recruiting, we managed to get Donovan Edwards to come in just under five stars in the composite, thus rescuing him from the fate of every 5-star Michigan RB since Tyrone Wheatley. It was a near run thing:
Five-stars start at 0.9831. If one tiny site realizes Ohio State’s own scouts liked Edwards more than the TreVeyon Henderson they got, does a comparison of NFL production to recruiting rankings and notices there’s a flaw in underrating Midwest players, or watches a football game that took place after 2007, there’s your .0025 points, and the jig is up. Keeping Michigan’s #1 target in the 4-star zone was almost as challenging as keeping him home. Edwards was no help, popping to the top of his class as a freshman, and finishing his career as Mr. Football in Michigan while leading West Bloomfield—WEST BLOOMFIELD(!)—to its first-ever state championship in the state’s highest division. He left no flaws in his game: speed, strength, vision, body type, acceleration, agility, academics, PERSONALITY. He lined up at quarterback, running back, slot receiver, and WIDE receiver, where he ran real post, zig, slant, and corner routes, and connected. Oklahoma, Georgia, and Ohio State all had Edwards the #1 back on their boards, and were telling this to their recruiting people. Thank Denard for deaf ears. We could not have done this without the help of ESPN, who ranked SEC-bound Damon Payne and Garrett Dellinger, as well as ND signee Rocco Spindler, ahead of the guy all of those guys’ coaches voted the best player in the state. ESPN also had to shoehorn 27 players committed to SEC schools, and 30 from the Southeast ahead of their 7th-best player in the Midwest. Rivals wasn’t so blatantly propping up a business venture, but they too ignored the pleas of people who bothered to watch the best football team in the best of states, and we are forever grateful. It could have been a consensus, but Steve Lorenz betrayed us again, allowing the 247 people he has no control over—the same people who look most closely at their re-ranks and commissioned a study a few years back to uncover their own blind spots—to push Edwards all the way up to a “98” in their final re-rank. That’s higher even than they put Zach Charbonnet, as if that wasn’t what ultimately doomed every Fargas, Baraka, Grady, Green, Walker, and Isaac to get a fifth star. Midwest analyst Allen Trieu, speaking directly to us I am sure, tried to spin this while explaining they moved Edwards up because they could find no reason not to: “I am sure the nay-sayers will point to the recent history of five-star backs who have signed with Michigan. The results have not been favorable. We cannot punish Edwards, a prospect with no real glaring weaknesses at this point, for the results of other recruits who he has no connection with though.”
That’s not how curses work. The Angry Michigan Five-Star Running Back-Hating God is wroth; if the recruiting services were to find a way to visit the future and report back exactly which RBs are going to be crazy sick awesome, AMFSRBHG will just have to find a more creative way to make us wish we never dreamed. In this case, all they have to do is banish the forward pass, or at least vanquish the idea of throwing to a running back from our coaches’ minds. See? There’s always a way. [After THE JUMP: Immutable god meets adaptable force.]