ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When Donovan Edwards breaks into the open field, like he has in the biggest games of his career at Michigan, it seems like nothing and no one can get in his way.

If football careers -- and life, quite frankly -- were as linear as Edwards sprinting for touchdowns against Ohio State, Penn State or Washington, things would be simpler and easier. A little more boring, perhaps, certainly a little less human. But Edwards' path at Michigan hasn't been a straight shot. There have been bends, both physical and mental, and delays to stardom. He reached one of his lowest points late last fall, even as his team was headed to the apex of college football.

His teammates and coaches often cite the steps he has taken. Coach Sherrone Moore said Edwards has "grown up in every single way." Edwards is proud of his journey, even the hard parts. Just like the great moments, they have molded him, too.

"Throughout everything, I've been a Michigan man, I stood through the tough times," he told ESPN.

Edwards is now the face of Michigan football, even though he's not the most decorated player on Team 145, and started only one game for the national championship squad last fall. Cornerback Will Johnson, defensive tackle Mason Graham and tight end Colston Loveland are all projected NFL first-round draft picks in 2025, while Edwards' draft forecast is what you would expect from a talented 6-foot-1, 212-pound back with only five starts in three college seasons.

But he's the most recognizable figure on a dramatically different Wolverines team than the one that won the College Football Playoff title last season. Those driving along Interstate 96 near Novi, Michigan, will see a smiling Edwards on a billboard for a local personal injury attorney. Johnson was the highest-rated player in EA Sports College Football 25, the wildly popular game that returned this summer, but Edwards was selected to be on the cover, joining two established stars in Colorado cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter and Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers. Edwards created a Maize-and-Blue bridge to the previous EA Sports college football game cover, 10 years earlier, which featured record-setting Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson.

"It was a bunch of, 'Congratulations,' and other people saying, 'He doesn't deserve it,'" Edwards said of the reaction. "My phone was getting blown up, I gained a couple thousand followers on Instagram. But also, too, I keep tabs off of what people say. At the end of the day, I try to prove myself."

Edwards occupies a unique position in his final college season, which continues Saturday when No. 3 Texas visits No. 10 Michigan at Michigan Stadium (12 p.m. ET, Fox). He's a famous player who has provided famous moments -- touchdown runs of 85 and 75 yards against Ohio State in 2022, and 46 and 41 yards against Washington in the national championship game. He also has been a career backup, largely in the shadows of two excellent lead backs (Hassan Haskins, Blake Corum), and has dealt with several injuries.

For all the personal growth that he has made, there is clearly another step to take on the field.

WHEN THE 2023 season kicked off, Edwards didn't feel right. He had undergone knee surgery in February and missed spring practice. The recovery slowed his conditioning plan after a productive end to 2022. He also dealt with an Achilles injury before the season.

Michigan hoped to have a 1/1A situation at running back. Corum was coming off of his own knee surgery and, while sidelined, Edwards had tallied 520 rushing yards in Michigan's final three games -- against Ohio State, Iowa in the Big Ten championship game and TCU in the CFP semifinal. But when the season kicked off, Edwards seemed stuck. He didn't have a run longer than 15 yards in Michigan's first nine games. He didn't score a touchdown until the seventh game.

"I was there physically, but mentally, I was just hurting, questioning and wondering, 'Why isn't this happening? Why isn't this going my way?'" he said. "My abilities just weren't all the way there at the beginning of the season, so I was losing my confidence."

Edwards went to Mike Hart, then Michigan's running backs coach and the all-time leading rusher in team history. Hart told Edwards that he could benefit from therapy and recommended someone.

Edwards took Hart's advice, started sessions and soon saw results.

"I have separation problems, I just feel like people always leave my life," Edwards said. "That's because my mother passed [away] when I was 2, so I would rather push people away than to be hurt. I realized that I wasn't strong enough to get to the root of my problems, and that was not having a mother in my life."

Edwards' mother Donna died of cancer in 2005. His father, Kevin, raised him in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Although Donovan was so young when he lost his mother, he began feeling the effects.

"All of his other friends, [their] moms are at the games, Mother's Day is coming up, Thanksgiving is here, all the mothers cooking, Christmas time is here," Kevin Edwards said. "Not having your mom can be very tumultuous to a child. My goal was to step up on the nurturing side. I'm more of a nature [person], 'Let's go ride some ATVs, let's go fishing, let's go to the cottage.' But there were times, too, where I had to do my nurturing, my hugging, my sit-down talks, my rubbing his back, letting him know everything is going to be OK."

Kevin went through therapy after Donna died. He had to figure out how to raise two young boys -- Donovan's brother Kevin Jr. was 5 at the time -- and process his own grief.

"That's what therapists are for, for them to help us out in a time of need," Kevin said. "I'm glad that [Donovan] did go seek some help."

Loveland said Donovan "did a good job of hiding" his struggles last fall. Although Loveland saw a low moment or two, Edwards never detached from his teammates and remained positive in the locker room.

Moore, then the team's offensive coordinator, had more awareness of what Edwards was going through. The two talked about Edwards' mental health as the season went on.

"That's something that's real in college football, especially with the pressures that these guys deal with," Moore told ESPN. "You saw change. We played Ohio State and went to the Big Ten [championship], and this dude, you watched him just flourish. All of a sudden, you get to the Rose Bowl and the national championship and in the national championship, he's just running his tail off.

"You can see that transformation, from a mental standpoint."

The therapy sessions helped Edwards identify why he was struggling, and shifted how he thought about football. He stopped worrying about touches and approached the game through gratitude, both for the opportunity to play and for those around him.

"Once I was able to just relieve all those expectations of myself, I found myself having fun again," he said. "I was able to rejoice in the game, be happy for the other man's success, and not be mad at certain things. That part of my life allowed me to be who I am today."

BEFORE DONNA EDWARDS died, she gave Kevin three instructions for their sons: They should go to church, they should receive a good education, and they should participate in sports. All three elements would shape Donovan's outlook toward community.

Donna came from a family of athletes and educators. Her father, Charlie Primas, played for the Harlem Globetrotters after an All-America career at Wayne State in Detroit, where he's a Hall of Famer. (He's also in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.) Primas earned three degrees from Wayne State and spent 40 years working in Detroit public schools.

Donna taught elementary school in Detroit and earned her administration master's degree shortly before she died. Kevin also worked in education, serving as an assistant principal in Detroit. At night, Donovan and Kevin Jr. would see their dad studying, working toward his master's degree and his education specialist degree.

"My wife said, 'Our kids are going to know that a college degree is very important, and we have to do it by modeling,'" Kevin said. "I modeled to them what studying looks like."

Donovan displayed natural athletic ability at 5 or 6, thriving in whatever he tried: soccer, track, baseball, basketball and football. He also took to the community element that sports offered. Donovan was a captain in high school and, late last month, became one of Michigan's 2024 captains.

"He puts others first," Kevin said. "That's something I learned from him. I can't think about myself, I have to think about the team. He gives back so much that I'm starting to give back to the community."

Inspired by his son, Kevin spent the Labor Day holiday this week gathering clothes, furniture and other items to donate. Donovan has held a youth football camp the past three summers. He has a nonprofit, DonGives, where he has awarded scholarships and spoken at schools and other events, including a male mentoring and mental health symposium in Detroit. After he finishes playing football, he intends to become a community leader focused on providing affordable housing.

Edwards' altruistic streak even steers him toward difficult places. Before Mother's Day in May, he visited mothers and other patients at the Rogel Cancer Center at University of Michigan Hospital.

"Growing up, Mother's Day has always been hard for him, and hard for me and Kevin [Jr.] -- very hard," Kevin Sr. said. "To see him go out on Mother's Day, he's already grieving himself, and he's giving back to mothers. That was just incredible."

Inside Schembechler Hall, he doesn't want his teammates to endure what he did last fall, so he checks in with them about their mental health.

"He's an example of how we're football players, but that's not all we are," Michigan quarterback Alex Orji said. "We're bigger than the game that we play. Seeing him give back and show much he cares about his faith and cares about other people and helping, it's huge.

"He's been a great role model for me to see."

DURING A BREAK in the NCAA Football 25 cover shoot in March, Edwards stood on the field at the Cotton Bowl, talking about ... Michigan's running back competition.

Normally, someone on the cover of the most anticipated sports video game in years wouldn't be looking over his shoulder. He would have the starting job firmly in his grasp.

"I believe in challenging people," Edwards said. "I believe in bringing the best out of others. That's the main reason why I came back to Michigan -- to serve the community, to be a man of the people and to be a leader on this team. My ambition is just to be able to help my guys out, and reach their goals. That's the Michigan way, to be there for your teammates.

"It doesn't matter who you are, where you are in the depth chart."

Edwards feels an obligation to former Michigan captains like Aidan Hutchinson and Josh Ross, saying that any other approach toward leadership would be "a disgrace to all the guys before me." But Hutchinson and Ross were multiyear starters. The depth chart hasn't been as kind to Edwards.

He came to Michigan with more recruiting buzz than Haskins or Corum. ESPN rated Edwards at No. 68 nationally, making him the Wolverines' second highest-rated recruit in the 2021 class, behind quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and their top in-state prospect. He joined a Michigan team that seemingly could use some fresh young talent after going 2-4 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

But Edwards would wait his turn. Haskins was Michigan's lead back in 2021, logging 270 carries for 1,327 yards and 20 touchdowns as the team won the Big Ten and made its first CFP appearance. Corum was the clear No. 2, rushing for 11 touchdowns and 957 yards. Edwards had only 35 carries but showed promise with three touchdowns, while catching 20 passes.

In 2022, Corum became a national star, bulldozing his way through the Big Ten to earn league MVP and All-America honors, while briefly entering the Heisman Trophy conversation before his knee injury. Edwards, meanwhile, played most of the season with a partially torn patellar tendon, and also broke his thumb against Nebraska, requiring two screws in his hand. He had his moments, including a 67-yard score and 173 rushing yards with two touchdowns in a blowout win over Penn State, but eclipsed 12 carries just twice before Corum's injury.

His late-season blitz left him nine yards shy of 1,000 and with 7.1 yards per carry, good for third in team history.

"I got the taste of what it's like to be the man," Edwards said.

Corum's injury likely prevented an NFL jump, which meant fewer opportunities for Edwards in 2023. But Edwards celebrated Corum's return. He knew Corum was the better goal-line back. As Corum approached Michigan's all-time rushing touchdowns record, Edwards said he would step out of bounds short of the goal line, rather than scoring himself, so that his friend could get the mark.

"That's a real brother," Edwards said. "The thing that I love about him and our relationship was there was no animosity. There was no, 'Why isn't this me?'"

But this season, Edwards, is the guy.

At least he should be.

But Edwards struggled to get going in last week's opener against Fresno State, finishing with 27 yards on 11 carries with a long of 7 yards. He caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Orji on the team's first drive, but Michigan got more production from Kalel Mullings, whose bruising style is more reminiscent of Corum and Haskins. After the game, Moore said he considers both Edwards and Mullings as starters.

Edwards recognizes how his game needs to evolve.

"My biggest challenge this year is, 'Can Donovan get that one yard? Can he get those two yards? On fourth-and-2, can he get that first down?" Edwards said.

Orji always considered Edwards a hard worker, but he has seen an even more dialed-in approach from the senior. Loveland said Edwards has been more vocal in demanding a detailed approach, right down to how players line up their shoes in the locker room.

Big Ten Network analyst Howard Griffith, who played fullback with Terrell Davis on two Denver Broncos Super Bowl teams, thinks Edwards' selflessness ultimately will help him reach his full potential.

"I'm sure it's been challenging for him," Griffith said. "Just think about how much success they've had, and he's not been the guy. I don't think he has any weaknesses in his game. I don't think he's anywhere near where he can be, but a lot of that is because he's been sharing time. The more he continues to play, he's going to continue to grow as a player, because he can do it all."

Michigan won't veer far from Edwards, especially as games get more amplified. He delivered those knockout touchdown runs against Ohio State in 2022, won Big Ten championship MVP honors the next week and ended a challenging 2023 season by becoming the first player to record multiple touchdown runs of 40 yards or longer in the CFP national championship game.

"When the big games come, he plays well, and that's what we count on Donovan to do," Moore said.

Edwards might cap his career with national accolades and, to some, justify his placement on the cover of College Football 25. But his impact on those who matter most to him -- teammates, coaches, Michigan fans and his community -- goes far beyond the field.

"Everybody knows I'm explosive and I make big plays, but I want people to see the growth, the man that I have become," he said. "I want them to see that I was genuine, and I gave my heart to the people."