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    • Running back Kalel Mullings can’t explain the declining role in Michigan’s offense
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    Running back Kalel Mullings can’t explain the declining role in Michigan’s offense

    Online Niel Posted on

    Ann Arbor – He looked confusing in his first half Michigan’s loss to Indiana last Saturday Kalel Mullings was tackled and picked off a carry in the second quarter with just under seven minutes remaining.

    That Mullings didn’t start was no surprise. He made three starts this season and senior Donovan Edwards had the rest. But the fact that Ben Hall came over Mullings early in the game was earth-shattering. Michigan lost at undefeated Indiana 20-15 and is now 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines are off this weekend before playing their final two games of the regular season, at home against Northwestern and then at Ohio State.

    Mullings spoke to reporters Tuesday night after practice and was asked why he didn’t have a carry until late in the second quarter. He entered late in the first with Edwards and was used as a blocker and finished the game with 10 carries for 30 yards and a touchdown.

    He started to answer, but then there was a 14-second pause when he seemed to be searching for words.

    “I don’t know how to answer that,” Mullings finally said.

    Mullings said he was not injured.

    “No, no,” he said. “Crossed. Obviously, it’s a long season. Hurt for sure, but not hurt. There’s a difference between hurt and hurt.”

    After the game, head coach Sherrone Moore first said Edwards and Hall practiced well, then said Mullings also practiced well.

    “Kalel, he had a lot of carries, so he’s working on stuff,” Moore said on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show Monday night, echoing comments made after the game. “Ben has also been training really well so I wanted to get him in the game. So a bit of both.”

    Mullings said all spaces have been training hard this season.

    “(And) really tough throughout the whole season,” he said. “I try not to necessarily focus on other guys, but more on the task at hand and the team we’re playing. I felt like I had a good workout.”

    More: With two games left, Sherrone Moore wants UM to keep bringing the ‘juice, the energy’

    Everyone wants to play in games, Mullings said, but when it wasn’t last Saturday at Indiana, he said he cheered on his teammates and hoped points would be scored and the defense would make stops.

    “And I’m just waiting when my number was called,” Mullings said.

    At no point did Mullings ask Moore, or offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell or quarterbacks coach Tony Alford exactly why he had just one carry in the first half at Indiana.

    “I just roll with the punches, do what I’m asked to do,” Mullings said. “At the end of the day, they’re the coaches, they’re the ones responsible for making those kinds of decisions, so I feel like it’s not my place to question things like that. All I can do is control my skills, go out and work hard every day and be the best runner I can be. I’ve done that my whole time, whether it’s been linebacker or running back, whatever it is, just go out and work and compete every day and have fun with it, too.”

    Mullings leads the team in rushing with 740 yards on 144 carries (5.2 average per carry) and eight touchdowns. Edwards has 513 yards on 114 carries and three touchdowns. In the first five games of the season, Mullings averaged 108 yards rushing, and in the last five, 40 yards.

    How can there be such a difference between his running totals in the first five versus the last five?

    “I think the biggest thing is finding that rhythm,” Mullings said. “I don’t really have an answer. Personally, I do the same things every day and attack everything with the same process. What happens on Saturday is a by-product and a by-product of how the team does. Some days it will be great and look great and some days it won’t look great. You’re never too high with the highs and never too low with the lows and just keep preparing and hoping for the best on Saturday.”

    Mullings was the focus of attention on social media and message boards after the Michigan-Michigan State game. A brawl broke out on the field in the final seconds, and several videos of the fight circulated, claiming Mullings was stomping on MSU individuals. The Big Ten issued a statement three days later saying it had reviewed video of the incident but said it was “inconclusive” and issued no suspensions or fines.

    He said he didn’t step on anyone.

    “Obviously a fight broke out, guys were going all over the place and in the crowd I was just trying to get the guys out and break it up,” said Mullings, who was not made available to reporters as of Tuesday night. “That’s all it was and I think people saw that and some angles.”

    Mullings doesn’t pay much attention to social media, he said, so he hasn’t seen many comments and accusations, but he has heard from family who have.

    “Grandma would call me and talk about what they were saying online, but I was cool the whole time because I knew I didn’t do what people said I was doing,” Mullings said. “I didn’t step on anybody or anything like that. So it didn’t bother me too much. I would say it bothered those around me and my family more than me because I was like, whatever, I know I didn’t do it and I’m not there much anyway so it wasn’t. it really bothers me.”

    Michigan, the defending national champion that went 15-0 last season, needs a win to become bowl eligible in Moore’s first season as head coach. Mullings acknowledged it’s tough to go from last season’s high to the Wolverines struggling at .500 and needing a win for a postseason game. But he sees the situation with perspective.

    “It’s tough, but at the end of the day we’re blessed to be able to be here and play football and chase our goals and dream every day and wear the corn and blue at Michigan,” Mullings said. “Never take that for granted and attack every day like it’s my last.”

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