Can Blake Corum set the Michigan football rushing touchdown record?
Blake Corum first stepped onto campus as a freshman in 2020. Despite being just 5-foot-8, Corum was touted by the 247Sports composite ranking as the 129th-rated player in the class — a huge recruiting win for Michigan. Despite the high hopes for his collegiate career, Corum started off on a bad foot.
The infamous 2020 COVID season that saw the Wolverines win just two games gave Corum a cold welcome to college football. Buried in a running back room with three future NFL draft picks (Hassan Haskins, Zach Charbonnet, Chris Evans), Corum only rushed for 77 yards with two touchdowns.
His sophomore year was a different story. Blake was still the second guy in the rotation but started to realize his potential as a recruit. Corum rushed for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns in Michigan’s playoff run, cementing himself as the starter for the 2022 season.
And he did not disappoint. As a junior, Corum hit All-American status. He surpassed his career totals with 1,463 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns but caught a bad injury late in the season that held him out of the Ohio State game, championship, and playoff loss. This would ultimately fuel the fire that led him to return as a senior in 2023.
Heading into the season, the rushing touchdown record was not being talked about much. Corum started week one 24 touchdowns away from Anthony Thomas’s legendary mark. A daunting task for even the best back.
Nonetheless, at about halfway through the season, Corum seems like he could be the one to finally eclipse the mark. He’s got 12 already and needs just 12 more to tie the record.
So can he do it? Absolutely. Michigan has five regular season games left, and the expectation is that there will be at least two more after that. Corum will get almost every single goal-line opportunity. There’s not a team on the schedule that Corum cannot have a monster game against. Penn State? Corum had 166 and two touchdowns last year. OSU? U-M has nine rushing touchdowns against them over the past two years. This is a record that Corum can very well set.
There’s a reason Corum has been getting every goal-line touch this year. Yes, he is brutally efficient, but more so it is almost like a reward for his loyalty. A reward for sticking after his position coach switched freshman year. A reward for sticking after a miserable 2-4 season. A reward for sticking despite being a potential second-round pick in the draft.
Regardless of what happens from here on out, Corum will be remembered as a Wolverine great. His loyalty and talent are generational, and he came to the program at its lowest moment. Charles Woodson already has claim to the name associated with number two at Michigan, but Corum may not be far behind when it’s all said and done.
