Great Deal: Los Angeles Rams Hire Another RB From Michigan….
Blake Corum might not be headed to the team in Los Angeles that many might have expected, but several draft analysts still love the fit for the Michigan running back with the Rams.
The Rams selected the 5-foot-8, 205-pounder in the third round with the 83rd pick on Friday.
“The ultimate competitor,” analyst Louis Riddick said on the ESPN broadcast. “Gets the most out of who he is in terms of pound-for-pound toughness. This is a guy (Rams head coach) Sean McVay loves. He’s gonna absolutely love him. Runs with that kind of toughness you need all running backs to run with.”
Corum endeared himself to fans in Ann Arbor, becoming the program’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns with 58 and setting a single-season record with 27 during Michigan’s national championship season in 2023. The two-time All-American also finished seventh in program history with 3,737 career rushing yards, but it also was his attitude and personality that drew rave reviews from teammates and coaches.
That includes Jim Harbaugh, who left Michigan to take the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Chargers in January.
Corum was on the board when the Chargers picked in the third round, but they took former Michigan linebacker Junior Colson.
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Meanwhile, the former four-star recruit from Virgnia will join a Rams backfield that features Kyren Williams, who rushed for 1,144 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games last year.
“Vision and balance is there for Blake Corum,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said on the broadcast. “That is his calling card. Instinctive runner. These sharp cuts, the change of direction, he found his way into the paint a zillion times there for the Wolverines. You want to throw him the ball out of the backfield? You know that’s going to happen with the Rams and Matthew Stafford. He’s going to be able to complement Kyren Williams there.”
Corum caught 56 passes for 411 yards in his four-year Michigan career, but the team also didn’t need to utilize him much in the pass game with its run-heavy approach.
The Wolverines won three straight Big Ten championships and frequently leaned on Corum to move the football. He had a whopping 674 career carries and eclipsed 900 yards on the ground each of his last three years. In 2022, Corum was having a Heisman Trophy-caliber season before suffering a knee injury Week 11 against Illinois. Nevertheless, he finished with a career-high 1,463 rushing yards in just 12 games.
Although his rushing yards dipped to 1,245 last season after knee surgery, he remained an effective workhorse for Michigan, scoring a touchdown in all 15 games.
“He’s a tough kid, strong,” ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. said. “This is a kid that carried that football team. Efficient runner, good vision, has a compact build. Lower-body strength makes it tough to get him to the ground. Has an effective stiff arm, has burst, cut-back ability, pretty good hands coming out of the backfield, effort blocker in pass protection. Could improve from a technical standpoint, but the effort is always there.
“Top-end speed not necessarily the caliber of some of the other guys, but you look at the production. There’s a lot of tread on the tires, but you cannot underestimate what this kid gives you on a game-to-game basis.”
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban joined the ABC draft panel after retiring this offseason, but he saw first-hand the threat Corum poses to a defense in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl semifinal.
He caught two passes for 35 yards and a touchdown and rushed 19 times for 83 yards, including the game-winning 17-yard score in overtime, dragging defenders into the end zone with him.
“I think this guy’s really, really good running with the ball,” Saban said. “He’s got great power. He’s 5-8, which doesn’t hurt you as a running back because he has a really strong lower body and can run behind his pads. He’s hard to tackle; he breaks a lot of tackles. The thing that he’s gonna have to do is prove that he can play on third down. That’ll be the big thing as a receiver.”
