With Harbaugh and 
Corum back, 
Michigan is set to 
contend again

O

f all the moments that 
defined 
the 
Michigan 
football 
team’s 
2022 
season, there’s one that I keep 
circling back to. 
Sixty-six minutes before the 
Wolverines’ 
clash 
with 
Ohio 
State — a bout for Big Ten East 
supremacy — Jim Harbaugh and 
Blake Corum emerged together 
from the tunnel that led to 
Michigan’s locker room. They 
walked in lockstep, head coach and 
star running back, snaking down 
the ramp and onto the field in 
Columbus for the biggest iteration 
of The Game since 2006. 
As 
reporters 
and 
cameras 
crowded the tunnel’s entrance 
on each side, both Harbaugh and 
Corum felt omnipresent — the 
coach who turned around the 
program and the running back 
who carried its offense throughout 
the season.
Two months later, they feel that 
way again. Last Monday, Corum 
announced that he is returning 
to Michigan for his senior season, 
postponing his NFL aspirations 
by a year. A week later, Monday 
afternoon, 
Harbaugh 
officially 
ended his latest NFL pursuit, 
reaffirming his commitment to the 
program. 
“My heart is at the University 
of Michigan,” Harbaugh wrote in 
a statement. “I once heard a wise 
man say, ‘Don’t try to out-happy, 
happy.’ Go Blue!”
Harbaugh’s decision isn’t as 
simple as his enthusiasm makes it 
seem. If it was, he wouldn’t have 
conducted a virtual interview 
with the Denver Broncos for their 
head-coaching vacancy, dragging 
Michigan’s feet for the second 
consecutive offseason. Afterall, he 
promised not to do so in February. 
No one knows exactly why 
Harbaugh flirted with an NFL 
return again. Perhaps he wanted 
to pursue a Super Bowl and 
the prestige that comes with it. 
Maybe he saw a chance to escape 
the elements that define modern 
college football: recruiting, NIL, 
the transfer portal. Or, maybe, he 
was content with the legacy that 
he built for himself across seven 
seasons. 
For 
the 
sake 
of 
exercise, 
let’s zero in on the saying that 
Harbaugh quoted: “Don’t try to 
out-happy, happy.” 

It’s certainly applicable here, 
since Harbaugh has Michigan 
at its apex. The Wolverines are 
coming off two straight Big Ten 
Championships, 
consecutive 
victories over Ohio State and back-
to-back appearances in the College 
Football Playoff. 
In 
March, 
when 
asked 
if 
his desire to win a Super Bowl 
had been quenched, Harbaugh 
deflected, instead focusing on the 
potential of his current team: 
“Yeah, we could win college 
football’s greatest trophy, we could 
win the national championship,” 
he said. “And that’s plenty good.” 
Ten months later, nothing has 
changed. Once again, Michigan fell 
just shy of its ultimate goal. Next 
year, the Wolverines seem primed 
for more dominance and perhaps 
even greater heights. They return 
eight defensive starters and their 

three most-talented skill position 
players in Corum, sophomore 
quarterback J.J. McCarthy and 
sophomore running back Donovan 
Edwards. 
That allure is hard to pass 
up. Corum, in the same vein as 
Harbaugh, realized that, too. 
“I’m willing to do whatever it 
takes to win it all,” Corum said on 
the “In the Trenches” podcast. “I 
hope Team 144 is ready. I’m going 
to make sure they’re ready.” 
Corum’s 
decision 
is 
worth 
ruminating on. Because, much like 
Harbaugh’s, it wasn’t a simple one. 
Running backs have notoriously 
short shelf lives, and Corum just 
suffered a major injury that will 
necessitate months of grueling 
rehab. What if he doesn’t come 
back with the same electricity? 
What if he gets hurt again and his 
draft stock plummets? Those are 
all fair questions, especially since 
Corum likely turned down the 
security of a mid-round selection, 
and 
the 
accompanying 
draft 
money, to stay in school. 
He didn’t always think that he’d 
come back — he said that his initial 
mindset was to merely get surgery 
and prepare for the draft. But his 

calculus changed. 
“I didn’t like the feeling of 
getting injured in the Big House 
and leaving like that,” Corum said. 
“I want to finish off my legacy, 
finish what I started.” 
Corum 
isn’t 
coming 
back 
for fun and games — that’s not 
in his DNA, both literally and 
figuratively. He comes from a 
lineage of industrious workers, his 
grandfather a mason and his father 
in charge of a landscaping business. 
There are stories of Corum’s work 
ethic, which include 4 a.m. boxing 
sessions and 3:30 a.m. wake-up 
calls. So when he says he’s going to 
finish what he started, well, you’re 
best off believing him. 
But Corum needs help to do 
so, which is why he talked to his 
offensive line “a lot” during the 
decision-making process. 
“I’m like, ‘Listen, it’s just one 
more year,’ ” Corum said. “ ‘Let’s 
go finish what we started. Let’s 
stick together because this team is 
something special.’ ”
Evidently, they agreed. Senior 
Trevor Keegan announced his 
return on Thursday, declaring that 
he wants “legend status.” Junior 
Zak Zinter followed suit Sunday, 
saying that he’s “back to finish 
what we started.” 
The sentiment went beyond 
the 
offensive 
line. 
Fifth-year 
linebacker Mike Barrett joined 
them 
Sunday. 
So 
did 
senior 
receiver 
Cornelius 
Johnson. 
Junior defensive lineman Kris 
Jenkins returned, too, saying that 
“last year wasn’t enough.” 
The caveat, among all the 
feel-good mojo, is that nothing 
is guaranteed. This sentiment 
proved similar last offseason, 
following 
Michigan’s 
loss 
to 
Georgia at the Orange Bowl. The 
program clamored for redemption, 
using that game as fuel through 
long winter days and grueling 
summer practices. 
But this year ended similarly, 
perhaps even more painfully. 
Just like the season prior, this 
year 
resulted 
in 
Michigan 
players standing under a drizzle 
of confetti, solemn spectators 
for another team’s celebration, 
wondering what could have been. 
Maybe that happens again, 
maybe it doesn’t. 
But 
with 
Harbaugh 
and 
Corum officially in the fold, 
and a strong corps surrounding 
them, the pieces are in place for 
Michigan to contend for a national 
championship — again.

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

SPORTSWEDNESDAY
RUN IT 
RUN IT 
BACK
BACK

The pieces are in 
place for Michigan to 
contend for a 
national champion-
ship — again.

GRACE BEAL/Daily
Design by Lys Goldman

