Following his third annual youth camp, sponsored by Sack the Stigma, Michigan senior running back Donovan Edwards took some time to talk with Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider about his road to mental health, how it affected his game, and how it affected his development as a man and a leader.
Not too long ago, it was thought that athletes who experienced stress or despair were weak. But that stigma has been gradually fading in recent years as a result of athletes like Donovan Edwards openly discussing their mental health issues. The senior running back recently talked about how he went to treatment last year to help him overcome mental obstacles, and his ability to do so now inspires everyone who looks up to him. All of it is a part of his development as a leader, a man, and a player. progress that his teammates started to notice the previous season.
“My teammates learn most from it that no matter what happened to me, I remained a great teammate,” Edwards said to The Michigan Insider following his third annual kids camp this past weekend. “I can honestly state that I was a fantastic teammate right here. I wasn’t asking myself why Blake was receiving more touches than I was. This is bull, man! This is not cool, Coach Moore, Coach Hart. I’m not doing any of that.”
“We are (playing well), JJ is killing it in the passing game, C-Love is doing his thing… Roman, CJ… they’re all (playing well). Blake’s (playing well). We’re winning games. How can you complain when you’re winning games? How can you complain when you’re 12-0 in the regular season and you have a third Big Ten championship? You beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl. You win a national championship. How can you complain? So, I could’ve, but I just can’t and won’t.”
What he did instead was stay ready. And when his team needed him in pivotal moments like it did versus Penn State and later Washington in the national championship game, he delivered.
“I got my fire back at the right time,” Edwards recalled. “It was kind of a little bit before Penn State. I was on the knee, and I’m like, ‘man, forget all the BS. Do you realize that you’re him? Do you realize that people can’t do what you can do?’ So, I got my fire back. That’s the same fire I had going into my senior year of high school and going into my freshman year in college. I had that fire. I was determined to achieve anything and everything, and I got that fire back at the right time. Regardless of how things were going for me (individually last season), I didn’t care. I was still going to work hard.”
He keeps setting this example in a team where his seniority designates him as the team leader. However, he discovered a long time ago that possessing the greatest skill set and experience among team members does not ensure that other players will follow you.
“I’ll take you back to my junior year of high school,” Edwards recalled. “Let’s just call a spade a spade… I was supposed to be voted as a captain as one of the best players on the team, but I wasn’t because I was a tyrant. I wanted people to get better. I wanted them to become who they sought out to be, but I did it in a mean way. Calling people out and challenging them, that’s fine, but I was doing it in a ruthless way. So, my senior year really shaped me on how to lead. And that’s allowing other people to lead as well. I don’t have to be the only person that’s saying something or that’s going out there just rallying the guys. I want multiple guys to go out there. I want as many people (as possible) that are willing to lead the team, I want them to do it. I consider myself an alpha leader, but I want to step back, and I want other people to lead and to become the men that I know that they’re capable of being.”
