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A knee injury suffered against Illinois likely kept Blake Corum from a trip to New York last weekend as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
And it will keep the junior running back from joining his Michigan teammates on the field as they chase a national championship in the College Football Playoff.
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But Corum isn’t exiting awards season empty-handed: He’s the 2022 winner of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, voted by Big Ten head coaches as the conference’s best player.
He follows defensive end Aidan Hutchinson as the second consecutive Michigan player and 19th Wolverine overall to win the Silver Football, first awarded in 1924 to Illinois’ Red Grange. That total is second to archrival Ohio State’s 22 winners.
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The Chicago Tribune and Union League Club of Chicago have partnered in presenting the annual award.
Corum outpaced a pair of Buckeyes — quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. — in wide-ranging voting that saw 10 players named on at least one ballot and six receive at least one first-place vote. (Each coach selects a first- and second-place choice and cannot vote for his own players.)
Corum got five first-place and four second-place votes for 14 points, six ahead of Stroud (three firsts, two seconds) and eight more than Harrison (three firsts). Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim, Nebraska wide receiver Trey Palmer and Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon also received first-place votes.
After rushing for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns last season as the backup to Hassan Haskins, the 5-foot-8 Corum made a big early statement this year with five touchdowns on only 12 carries in a 59-0 rout of Connecticut. In the Big Ten opener the next week against Maryland, he exploded for a career-high 243 yards and two scores on 30 carries in a 34-27 victory.
“My mindset, I feel like I was always able to carry the ball that many times,” he told reporters about the heavy workload. “I prepare in the offseason for a reason.”
That began an eight-game streak of 100-yard games that included 166 against Penn State, 177 against Michigan State and 162 against Nebraska.
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The final game in the streak was a 108-yard performance in the Wolverines’ 19-17 squeaker against Illinois. Corum sat out most of the second half after injuring his left knee late in the second quarter.
He tried to go the next week at Ohio State but carried only twice for 6 yards before giving way to backup Donovan Edwards, who rushed for fourth-quarter touchdowns of 75 and 85 yards in a 45-23 pounding of the Buckeyes.
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Corum opted for season-ending knee surgery and missed the Big Ten championship game, in which the Wolverines won their second straight conference title — and earned their second straight playoff berth — with a 43-22 victory over Purdue.
Corum finished the season with 1,463 yards on 247 carries — 5.9 yards per carry and 121.9 per game — and scored 19 touchdowns, including one through the air.
A Virginia native who attended St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Corum was a consensus four-star recruit in the Class of 2020 and picked Michigan over Ohio State, Kentucky, LSU and USC.
His next decision will be whether to enter the NFL draft or return to Michigan for his senior season — and a run at even more trophies.
First-place votes worth two points, second-place votes worth one. Coaches cannot vote for their own players.
- Blake Corum, Michigan RB: 5-4—14
- C.J. Stroud, Ohio State QB: 3-2—8
- Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State WR: 3-0—6
- Mohamed Ibrahim, Minnesota RB: 1-2—4
- Trey Palmer, Nebraska WR: 1-0—2
- Devon Witherspoon, Illinois CB: 1-0—2
- Chase Brown, Illinois RB: 0-2—2
- Jack Campbell, Iowa LB: 0-2—2
- Sam LaPorta, Iowa TE: 0-1—1
- Mike Morris, Michigan DE: 0-1—1
- 1926: Benny Friedman, QB
- 1932: Harry Newman, QB
- 1940: Tom Harmon, RB
- 1947: Bump Elliott, RB
- 1957: Jim Pace, RB
- 1964: Bob Timberlake, QB
- 1968: Ron Johnson, RB
- 1976: Rob Lytle, RB
- 1978: Rick Leach, QB
- 1982: Anthony Carter, WR
- 1986: Jim Harbaugh, QB
- 1991: Desmond Howard, WR
- 1997: Charles Woodson, CB
- 2003: Chris Perry, RB
- 2004: Braylon Edwards, WR
- 2009: Brandon Graham, DE
- 2010: Denard Robinson, QB
- 2021: Aidan Hutchinson, DE
- 2022: Blake Corum, RB
