Late in the first quarter of Michigan football’s 34-13 conquest of Washington in the College Football Playoff championship game, ESPN announcer Chris Fowler bellowed, “Welcome back, Donovan Edwards!” In that moment, the Wolverines’ star was nearing the end zone for the second time that night, on a 46-yard touchdown sprint that showcased the natural talent of a player who had mysteriously faded away over the course of the 2023 season.

At the 11^th hour of Michigan’s title run, Edwards had gained a measure of sweet redemption following a difficult autumn when he crashed hard.

“It was a very much of a mental struggle for me,” Edwards said last Saturday at West Bloomfield High School, his alma mater and the site of his latest youth football camp.

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Edwards, in some ways, was to blame for that. He became freighted with the hype he created for himself last summer, when he boasted to a national website that he’d go down as one of the greatest running backs of all time and professed his belief that he would one day “revolutionize the game.”

It was a lot of bluster coming from someone who remained in the shadow of Blake Corum, the Wolverines’ top ball carrier and the offense’s de facto heartbeat during Michigan’s latest golden age. The self-aggrandizing comments were bound to blow up in Edwards’ face, and they did. In the 14 appearances preceding his 104-yard, two touchdown performance against the Huskies, Edwards averaged only 28.1 rushing yards per game.

The weekly flameouts left Edwards chastened and searching for the “fire in his soul,” as he put it.

“I lost it, but then I regained it,” he continued. “And that really helped me out a lot, because I’m like, ‘OK, I’m gonna relieve all expectations for myself.’”

Edwards felt liberated by the time Michigan lifted the CFP trophy in Houston. But now, almost six months later, he has begun to feel weight on his shoulders again as the fanfare around him has started to regenerate. He can thank EA Sports for that after the company revealed in May that it picked him, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way sensation Travis Hunter to share the cover of its revived college football video game.

Edwards said he was grateful to be chosen for the front, calling it a “blessing.” Yet he recognizes it may also become a burden, knowing that there will be a spotlight on his back and increased pressure to live up to his status as one of the most recognizable faces in the sport.

“I’m in a situation and a platform, where all eyes are on me,” Edwards, a 21-year-old senior, acknowledged. “My question is, ‘What are you going to do when all eyes are on you? Are you going to do nothing? Are you going to go above and beyond?' ”

The Wolverines’ fate this season may depend on the answer Edwards provides.

The offense, after all, is undergoing a major makeover. After the last pieces of confetti dropped at NRG Stadium in January, the team bid farewell to Corum, star quarterback J.J. McCarthy and the entire starting offensive line. The exodus of talent left Michigan with few proven sources of production beyond Edwards and junior tight end Colston Loveland.

But whereas Loveland has offered consistent returns over the course of his career, Edwards’ output has been more sporadic. To that point, Edwards averaged fewer than 4 yards per carry in 10 of his 15 appearances last season. As he failed to gain traction over the course of a frustrating fall, the memories of his stunning 216-yard, two-touchdown tour de force against Ohio State in November 2022 began to dim.

That performance in Columbus turned Edwards into a household name, raising his profile and perhaps setting him up for the disappointment of 2023. But it now invites hope heading into this season — it showed he could thrive in a leading role. With Corum hampered by a torn meniscus in his left knee, Edwards was tasked with being the primary running back that afternoon 19 months ago. It was the first of three games he carried the ball more than 20 times. On each occasion, Edwards surpassed 100 yards on the ground.

“Football is a game of rhythm and feel,” Edwards said. “If you’re not getting in a rhythm of how you know how you can get into, who’s to say you are going to break 40-, 70-yard touchdowns that you know you are capable of doing?”

It’s a question Edwards pondered during last fall, when he averaged roughly eight rush attempts per game. But it’s one he probably won’t have to contemplate for the foreseeable future.

That is because Edwards is expected to be one of the main engines for Michigan this season. New running backs coach Tony Alford described Edwards “as kind of the Alpha male leader in our room.”

“I mean he’s a great player, as we all know,” added H-back Max Bredeson. “His role is going to be as much as it can be.”

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Edwards offered a sneak preview of what it could look like in April, when he propelled his team on a scoring drive during the opening possession of the spring game. With added muscle on his 6-foot-1 frame, he carried the ball five times for 33 yards, running hard up the middle and shedding defenders as he picked up multiple first downs. In his brief cameo, he showed the strength, power and urgency rarely seen in 2023, when he moved the sticks on only 16 of his 119 attempts and forced just 14 missed tackles.

Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell came away particularly impressed by the bulked-up back’s work in the glorified scrimmage.

“I told him at halftime I was proud of him,” he said afterward. “I thought he probably ran some of the hardest I’ve ever seen him run.”

The question now is whether he’ll have the steam to reach the finish line in a Michigan career full of stops and starts.

Not too long ago, Edwards, a projected third-round pick in the 2025 draft, thought he would have already crossed it by now. Last year, he had designs on skipping his senior season and playing in the NFL this upcoming fall. That’s when he believed his own hype.

“Expected to go to the league … Expected to have a great year,” he said in one breath.

“I thought it was going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but it’s not,” he explained in another.

It was a hard lesson to learn in front of millions.

But it grounded him and set the stage for him to become one of the faces of college football in 2024.

Welcome back, Donovan Edwards?

“Whatever,” Edwards said dismissively.

He argues he never really left.

Michigan, meanwhile, hopes he has the staying power this year to carry the Wolverines back to glory.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Donovan Edwards is ready to shine as the face of Michigan football