Michigan Wolverines College Football Pregame Quote, 12/29/2022

What is the greatest way Coach [Jim] Harbaugh has impacted you?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: I guess his love. Just showing to us how much he appreciates us. The smile is genuine.

Do you get as tired when you guys wear teams down by late in the second half?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: I don’t know. All I can say for us is we prepare ourselves for playing four quarters. We practice to play a four-quarter game. That’s why we don’t get tired like that. When we practice and we prepare, our strength and conditioning coaches have done a fantastic job to be able to put us in the position where all we’re doing is focus on the game, focus on our mission.

So you expect every opponent you face is going to emphasize stopping the run, even though it doesn’t look like it’s that easy to stop your run. How do you guys view that? Do you bring it on?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: We take it as a compliment, you know? And if they can’t stop us, what they’re planning to do, that’s kudos to us. We’re doing our job. We’re doing what our identity is, to run the ball and to pass it. We have the quarterback and receivers necessary when we need to throw or when we want to throw.

That’s the main part about this team. It’s not just one dynamic. Everyone is dynamic. The receivers, running backs, everybody is dynamic on the offensive side of the ball.

My understanding is that your mother passed away when you were young. I wonder how much of that has to do with your faith and if there’s anything you can talk about how that’s informed you as a man and a football player.

DONOVAN EDWARDS: God does everything for a reason. He does everything for a reason. I’m not upset that I don’t have a mother anymore. All it’s done is sharpen me now. All that’s done is just made me tougher and made me more faithful to God because I know that he wouldn’t take away my mom if I needed her. Everything is all God’s plan. I’m always smiling every time I praise God ‚Äì I’m thankful you brought that up. God does everything for a reason.

How old were you?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: 2 years old.

What was the cause?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: Breast cancer.

You were talking to your dad before committing to Michigan. Did you give him your thought process and everything? What did he teach you?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: My dad is the man. There’s not too many people in the past generation that would step up as a single father. I love females, I love mothers. But for fathers, for them to be able to step up as a single parent and to do what he has done for my brother and I, I respect my dad for everything he’s given me.

How old is your brother?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: He’s 22 years old. His name is Braylon.

Ron Bellamy has known you since third grade. He said early on, he had to show some tough love sometimes. What do you remember about that?

DONOVAN EDWARDS: Man, he would be on me. He would be on me. He would give me tough love, you know, like prepare me for the future. The reason why I’m so successful now, that’s a huge part to Coach Bellamy. I wanted to play receiver going into high school. I got into the next level, but he saw a vision for me. He knew I would be a running back.

So a huge part of my success and everything that I’m going through is because of Coach Bellamy. He showed me a lot of love. And he showed me the tough love that I needed because everybody in high school, it was like handoffs.

But there’s no handoffs in the real world. He prepared me in the real world that there’s no handoffs. Nobody cares about what you do yesterday. They care about what you do today and tomorrow. So Coach Bellamy is the man.