On Saturday night, it was all Donovan Edwards to start — as expected. The senior running back played all five snaps of the No. 9 Michigan football team’s first drive against Fresno State, and he capped it off with a 3-yard receiving touchdown.
The start boded well for Edwards as the Wolverines’ starting running back. On their next offensive drive, they subbed in senior Kalel Mullings to get some reps — also expected. Mullings took his first handoff 8 yards up the middle, pushing two defenders along with him.
Michigan’s offense quickly fizzled out, ending the five-play second drive with a punt, but Mullings’ 13 total yards in three touches eclipsed Edwards’ five total yards in the same amount . Thus began an unexpected story of the game: Mullings, the presumed backup, looked like the lead back.
“We think we have two guys that are starters,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. “So we’ll play both of them, let them keep playing. And you’re going to need all of them for the long drive, long haul of the season. So we’ll just keep playing both of them.”
The Wolverines have certainly been high on Mullings through the offseason, and he was surely in line for plenty of carries. But he was assumed to be the complement to Edwards, and instead he became the focal point. Mullings ended up with 15 carries to Edwards’ 11, and looking at what he did with his carries, it’s clear why he earned more opportunities.
Mullings averaged 6.1 yards per carry, totaling 92 yards. Edwards, on the other hand, struggled, only averaging 2.5 yards per carry. While Mullings managed to break off a few explosive runs, Edwards couldn’t, especially struggling to make headway in short-yardage situations.
When the Bulldogs scored to cut the Wolverines’ lead to six points in the fourth quarter, Michigan responded with a statement touchdown of its own. Edwards started the drive with two decent runs of 3 and 6 yards, respectively, but he didn’t set the tone like the Wolverines needed him to.
Mullings, however, subbed in and made his best plays of the night, gaining 42 yards in three plays. His 21-yard rush was Michigan’s longest of the evening and set up its second touchdown of the game.
“In the fourth quarter on that drive, it didn’t seem like guys really wanted to tackle as much as they did earlier,” Mullings said. “We were able to take advantage of that and score. Really, (what) was going through my mind was just continuing to throw those gut punches, continue to soften up the defense.”
In addition to his 92 rushing yards, Mullings also amassed 74 yards on kickoff returns. He was just as effective at breaking through tackles on those returns as he was on offensive drives. His 166 all-purpose yards far outpaced any other player.
Edwards is by no means a bust after one uninspiring game, but Mullings outplayed him on Saturday. As Moore remarked, Michigan will need both running backs to impact the game through the season. And according to Mullings, that’s been the plan all along.
“Going into the season, me and Dono always just viewed it as a team thing, us just getting the job done together,” Mullings said.
They did get the job done together on Saturday, but it didn’t look quite how most anticipated. Mullings played like the starter, even though he wasn’t the first back in the game — and he made a case for that to change in the future.
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