Ron Bellamy shares Donovan Edwards’ growth from high school to his junior year at Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Back in 2018, I was at the SoundMind SoundBody 7-on-7 camp and I ran into West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy. We’d gotten to know each other over the years, starting with a documentary I was filming (but never finished) back in 2014.
In the years immediately preceding this football camp, I had become accustomed to speaking to Bellamy about his players. Lance Dixon was a major target for the Wolverines and Makari Paige was becoming one. But Bellamy was most enthusiastic about one player: Donovan Edwards.
Here we are years later, and both Bellamy and Edwards are in Ann Arbor. Bellamy coached the star running back for his entire high school career before accepting a position coach job at Michigan. But watching Edwards continue to grow and become one of the most exciting players in college football, it’s something that the Wolverines wide receiver coach relishes.
And he’s seeing an eagerness in a healthy, dynamic running back who just wants to get off of the practice field and into game action.
“It’s great. It’s like, ‘Please, can we play a football game!’ because now he’s he’s so eager and excited to get going,” Bellamy said. “It’s like alright, let’s line it up and get this guy going. But Donovan, he’s been Donovan. He’s been great. Super enthusiastic. You know, Donovan. He comes in, smiles bigger than life, and he brings the juice. He brings the juice to our team and you know, Donovan is ready to go, he had a fantastic camp. It’s time to go now.”
Edwards revealed this summer that he had injured his knee in Week 2 of last year and played with a torn patellar tendon all season long. And he also broke his thumb, of course. Yet, for much of the year, he played through the pain and earned national accolades late in the season when he was still suffering from both ailments.
It was no surprise for Bellamy to see Edwards look his best in those moments. Because he’s seen him play through injury before.
“He may or may not had the same, very similar (injury) in high school that he played through,” Bellamy said. I’ve seen it, obviously. We were together for his four years in high school, and I’ve seen him battle through some things. And there’s no denying that kid. You’re going to have to physically remove him to not have him play. And, obviously, a 70-75% Donovan Edwards is better than most guys at full strength.”
Fans will get a chance to see Edwards in action on Saturday when Michigan football hosts East Carolina for the 2023 season opener. The game will kick off at noon EDT and will be streamed live on Peacock.
