Michigan RB Blake Corum shut out of Heisman Trophy ceremony
Corum #Corum
Michigan running back Blake Corum, who was once considered a contender for college football’s most prestigious award, did not get an invite to New York.
Corum was not one of the four finalists for the Heisman Trophy unveiled Monday night, closing the door on an otherwise productive (and memorable) season for the ball carrier.
The four finalists for the trophy, voted on by a large panel and awarded to college football’s best player: Georgia QB Stetson Bennett, TCU QB Max Duggan, Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud, and Southern Cal QB Caleb Williams. The winner will be announced Saturday night during a special ceremony in New York (8 p.m., ESPN).
Yup, four quarterbacks. Corum, a junior running back, rushed for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns in 11-plus games this season, earning Running Back of the Year honors from the Big Ten Conference. He tried to play Michigan’s regular-season finale against Ohio State, rushing twice for 6 yards, before a knee injury suffered a week earlier became too much.
Corum has since had surgery to repair the injury, which has not yet been disclosed, and been ruled out for the rest of the postseason.
Before the injury, however, the 5-foot-8, 210-pound back had racked up some impressive figures. Corum rushed for 100-plus yards in eight straight Big Ten games, setting a new career high against Maryland on Sept. 24 against Maryland (243 rushing yards). A week earlier, Corum rushed for 71 yards and five touchdowns against Connecticut, tying a program record.
Corum continued his dazzling season with key performances in back-to-back high-profile games, rushing for 166 yards and two touchdowns in Michigan’s victory over Penn State and 177 yards and a touchdown in a win over in-state rival Michigan State.
By early-November, Michigan players and their head coach, Jim Harbaugh, were openly campaigning for Corum. Harbaugh called him the best running back in the country. But the injury against Illinois slowed him and ultimately hurt his chances.
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