Ann Arbor – Whether he knew it or not, Michigan’s Kalel Mullings began spring training by checking the boxes a running back coach thinks are important.
Among other things, it is about covering long distances, executing fakes and defending passes.
“Kalel has proven to be a very reliable guy, not only in our room but on special teams,” Tony Alford, the new running backs coach, said this week. “He’s earned the opportunity he’s been given.”
As No. 10 Michigan prepares to face No. 3 Texas on Saturday at Michigan Stadium, Mullings, the 6-foot-2, 235-pound sophomore who moved up from linebacker to running back at the end of the 2022 season, appears to have emerged as the Wolverines’ primary running back. In the season opener last Saturday, Mullings rushed for 92 yards on 15 carries and also returned three kicks for 74 yards.
Senior Donovan Edwards rushed for 27 yards on 11 carries and caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Alex Orji for the first touchdown in the Wolverines’ 30-10 victory over Fresno State. Edwards entered the season with high hopes and expectations, was voted a captain by his teammates and is also featured on the cover of EA Sports’ College Football 25.
It wasn’t exactly the first-game performance Edwards could have hoped for, and Alford said it was important to ease any frustrations.
“He was voted to be a team captain by his teammates, not the coaches, but his teammates,” Alford said. “He was voted to be someone that the guys want to follow and want him to lead them. So when things aren’t going as well as you want them to, you have to act a certain way and still present yourself. And frustration, sure, we all get frustrated sometimes, but you still have a responsibility to lead positively and just keep going because people are going to be looking at you.
“How do you react when things maybe aren’t going as well as you personally want them to? We’ve talked about it, and I’m very happy and pleased with the way he’s responded. He’s saying, ‘Coach, you got it, you’re right.’ He’s a perfect team player. Nobody in this building is worried about Donovan Edwards and what’s ahead of him. He’s going to be perfectly OK.”
A 10-yard run by Edwards in the third quarter was called back for a holding violation against Michigan.
“He played hard, he ran hard,” Alford said of Edwards. “He just didn’t have the opportunity to get some of the runs into the second, third level of defense. The kid ran hard and played hard, so I wasn’t unhappy with how hard he played. You know, on a couple of occasions, Kalel broke some things and it just worked out that way.”
In Michigan’s victory over Washington in the national championship game, Edwards gave the Wolverines their first two points with touchdown runs of 41 and 46 yards. He had touchdown runs of 75 and 85 yards at Ohio State in 2022, so he was capable of home run plays.
“He’s shown in the past that he’s got some players that make big plays, and hopefully that’s going to continue,” Alford said. “We all need to play better, we all need to do our jobs better. Maybe I’m a better coach. Maybe he needs to finish some runs better and things like that. But I’m not scared at all to have him in the game. The guy is a leader on the football team. He’s one of the absolute leaders on our offense. He’s proven he can make plays in this program, like he’s done in a lot of games. Nobody’s panicking.”
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said on Monday on the radio show “Inside Michigan Football” that the Wolverines simplified the running game with a new offensive line in the opener against Fresno State.
“When Donovan was in the game, he ran hard, but Kalel just provided a little more force,” Moore said. “And he kept leaving guys running into empty space or running them over. There were missed tackles and he just did a really good job of getting those six, seven and eight yard runs.”
Alford expressed no concerns about Mullings’ stamina as he takes on a larger workload. Alford also wants to use sophomore Ben Hall and first-year Jordan Marshall in games.
But after the first game and ahead of Saturday’s enormous challenge, Mullings appears to be the key to Michigan’s running game.
“A lot of it just depends on the game situation, how it’s going,” Alford said of the amount of running time he gives the backs. “If one gets going, I’ll try to keep him running and get him going and let him eat.”
Running back coaches like to point out what running backs do when they don’t have the ball. Alford praised Mullings for his fake that drew the defense and gave quarterback Alex Orji an 11-yard gain late in the third quarter.
“That’s something people don’t really pay attention to,” Alford said. “It’s a lot more than just yards and how many yards per carry. There’s so much more that goes into it. How did they protect their passes? Did they protect their passes? How did they play without the ball in their hands? That doesn’t take any skill to play without the ball. That takes pure effort and will and intentional and purposeful behavior, and that’s something Kalel continues to demonstrate. I think all of our players do that, but I’ll just use that one example of one of the things when we start talking about him, and one of the things that makes him so valuable is he’s selfless.
“To say how many reps and appearances he’ll get, you have to use a crystal ball. I have no idea. We go into the game and game situations will arise and happen and we’ll just go from there.”
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