Rams RB Blake Corum Talks Michigan, Kobe & More with Rich Eisen | Full Interview

Our Guest right here truly one of my favorite players in the history of University of Michigan football and I've been following since I was a freshman on the campus in 1986 when my first quarterback was Jim Harbaugh and he is here as part of the Los Angeles Rams organization right now one of my favorites in National Champion Blake cor great to see you Blake how are you appreciate it thank you seriously man I say it all the time just the way you go about your business and the way you you handled your business um you're one of my favorites dude that means man trly honor it is the truth how are you ready for this NFL season what are you thinking right now I can't wait you know we've been in Camp since over a month now you know it's time to play a game right you know it's time to play a game so you know I'm super excited you know just trying to take it a day at a time you know enjoy the moment understood but I can't wait for next Sunday we had your your uh running back made Kiren Williams on in hour number two I know he's returning punts what what can you tell me about your expectation of the number of touches you might have in a game right now you know I'm not really sure you know I'm not I'm not really sure I know I've had a good camp and you know kyon's a phenomenal back yes you know so we could you know just feed off each other you know anything to help the team you know I don't know how many carries I get maybe five maybe 10 maybe more you know I don't know but I'll be ready the numbers and I know it's a difficult question to ask a rookie um but I but you are somebody who's used to you know getting a ton of touches and getting stronger as the game goes on how are you adjusting to not knowing how many touches you might get you I kind of go back to when Hassan H Haskins you know was at Michigan and I was kind of getting maybe five carries or maybe 10 carries a game but I was making it do you know I was still going for you know 100 yards and 85 yards think against AIO State five for 85 or something like that something like that you know something like that so you know uh you just when your opportunities when your numbers called you got to make the best of your opportunities and you know just do what you do yeah I mean it's tough to get in a game with Hassan H Haskins constantly hitting his head against the goalpost against Ohio State as he did by the way did you see Harbaugh just uh brought him in across the stre the Chargers did you see that I did see that I think that was a great pickup for them sure you know uh whether it be at the running back you know they have a pretty stacked room with Gus and JK and now hisan um but he's a special teams demon yeah I know and just to be fair and balanced Jim had a front row seat to watching JK hit his head on the goal post against Michigan quite a bit it's kind of funny how there are strange bed fellows right you know in the in in in the pros and how about this I mean you can't make this stuff up your first game as a professional in the regular season is back in the state of Michigan back in the state of Michigan hopefully I don't get too many booze you know hope it's true that that it is you know there there will be a lot of Spartan lion fans I'm sure but it's just um you know what do you think it's going to feel like for you when you're going to get off that bus Saturday before the the lions are hosting your Rams you know I think it's going to feel like you know any other you know kind of big game whether it been my first game against who was my first game against was it Michigan State no no Minnesota you know freshman year college or you know the Rose Bowl or it's going to feel like that you know you get off the bus it's like dang you know I really made it to the highest stage but it's still football at the end of the day let's go you know so I'm super excited for next Sunday Blake km here on the Rich Eisen show when did you first carry a football in your life man I probably first carry the football in a real practice or game yeah six years old six years old tackle tackle football never played flag you played tackle at age six oh went right into it right into it you know I was uh I play for fyf Rams mhm you know for the Rams for the Rams I was a ram then I'm a ram now and this is in the state of Virginia Virginia Virginia yes sir okay and when did you first show up on uh the Michigan Wolverine radar screen when did that happen or when did they show up on yours you you know they were a little later uh in my recruiting process uh for a long I think it was like maybe Junior okay junior year and the sophomore year did Jim come to see you uh you know Coach Harbaugh had like these satellite camps oh that's right yeah he but people were really pissed about that yeah he he had he had a satellite camp in Baltimore and I remember I went to it I don't remember I don't remember how old I was they didn't offer me then okay um but you know by my sophomore year I had 20 plus offers and then Michigan finally came and I was like oh you then it came down to Michigan orio State for me oh oh okay so what were the pluses and the minuses for you uh you know two great football programs you know I I I'll give them the credit you know they had a great football program but you know Michigan sold me on the alumni base oh is that right they they sold me man and and it's been nothing but great you know we do have the biggest and the strongest and the most loving alumni base as you know where were everywhere you know and so they sold me on that I'm like oh yeah I committed on spot silently you did yeah and then I uh post the video like maybe two weeks later so do you notice guys that Blake and I can say the words Ohio State we're fine with it we can say that yeah we we can say it man because you know what cuz we're adults yeah yeah we're adults we're not like you know little babies who can't say Michigan Michigan can't even say the letter M or that school up north I can say it Ohio State right yeah that's it like I could say it in the form of a sentence like Ohio state is the school that Blake beat three straight times before turning pro try try it without smug it's not smug it's there's a it's a fact yeah yeah the tone was you know like for instance just saying the last three um what offensive rookies of the Year came from Ohio State but lost to Michigan and their last game if Marvin Harrison Jr wins offensive Rookie of the Year this year that's how's that for a statement that's a fact right these are facts facts what's wrong what do it matter y those are facts yeah it's it's been a long year Blake well it's been this year's gone fast hasn't it oh Luba exactly right Luba the famous picture with you bloody at the the the on your not I could see there's still a mark right there oh yeah it ain't going nowhere where where did that where did that come from what happened in that play uh it was I believe it like second play of the game or third play of the game uh D D Carter number 11 yep gave me a nice little hit who does he play for you know nitty Lions okay right okay NY Lions uh helmet came down split it open it just got a little worse throughout the game you know we ran the ball in the second half 30 32 times straight I believe yes indeed and so it just kept getting worse and worse but uh you know the pitcher that's one of the ones I have in my office and at my house you do oh that's a legendary picture in my eyes and when did that picture get taken uh that was right after the game when I was going to the press conference you know they they took those pictures um and then a nice fan I wish I knew their name okay I'll would give him a shout out right now sure but uh she drew the picture of me with a pencil I'll just send you a picture it's unbel it's unbelievable man it's nice I mean what do you think of when you see that right there look at that yeah that means uh we went to war you know I mean my the rest of the 10 well I mean what was that game like cuz you didn't know who your coach was up until game time right I mean because we spoke to Chiron Moore about it and he didn't really know until about an hour and a half before right yeah because they didn't know if hard ball was going to be suspended or not you know it's kind of just kind of going with the flow but for us and I I tell everyone uh everyone this like that game is what determined the rest of our season what do you mean because we were already going through adversity but that game you know we think we're gonna have the coach we land boom you know all getting these alerts from ESPN and all these other you know sites and you know hard ball suspended hard ball suspended and it's like okay this is our first challenge too against I think they were like a top five defense for sure you know and a ranked team yeah that's chop Robinson I don't know if you play the Dolphins this year you're going to see him again we'll see him again we will see him again um they come they come play us but uh that was the first true definition of you know a team we had to go against that you know know was gritty you know had had a really good defense and uh to do what we did run the ball 32 times straight after that I knew I was like yeah this team's special man this team's special and we have a chance to go all the way and we did were you one of the guys who hashtag bet who put that out no I I didn't uh hashtag bet uh I I saw it went crazy on Twitter but you know I knew what it was that had that H that hit that started on the plane ride right it started on the plane yeah as soon no as soon as we got off the plane and we found found out because all the alerts that's when it started next thing you know alumni everyone just started saying well what do you say to people who are and you'll you'll probably be hearing this for for quite some time and obviously you're about to be a pro and this stuff is in your rear of your mirror what do you say to people say that the controversy and the you know the issues were brought on by Michigan itself and that you're you're you you used something that you brought on yourself Blake yeah I mean at the end of the day people can say whatever they want you know the toughest part of our schedule was the end of the year you know we didn't have any help if that's what they think we had um and we went we went out and opened a can of whoop you know what I'm saying on everyone else you know so they can say whatever they want you know whatever they want to say about Michigan about the school about team 144 but you know you you know the rest of the Michigan alarm you know the people inside shinb Hall we know what we put in man we know we had a great team we know we had great coaches and we went out beat Alabama we beat Washington we beat Penn State we beat Ohio State we won a big 10 you know that was the toughest part of the schedule right there so they can say whatever they want you know we won that rose that Rose Bol for fourth quarter and overtime walk me through what was going on on the sideline you know uh you know for for for me and for the rest of the team you know we knew we had one last drive to score and I told the team if we score we're going to win you know and it was fourth and one you know in my opinion I thought we were about to call a timeout just to get into the right play but JJ hit me on that little flat route yeah and we went on we had a little penalty on the play but Roman came back and made a huge play after that penalty he had yeah and we went in overtime and we went in overtime you know I'm one of my favorite players ever you know is Kobe you know like a lot of players just because his mindset and it's like I kind of want the ball you know and then you know Coach Moore you know the offensive line had a great push receivers blocked really well tight ends blocked really well first play ran Gap scheme got nine yards second play we score and then we had the best defense in the nation you know I I knew we were going to you know shut them out even though Alabama was good but uh you know I knew if we won the Rose boy we were going to win The Natty so you really were thinking about Kobe 100 in overtime 100% I think about Kobe all the time like even growing up as a kid like just watching it on YouTube like his mindset the mama mindset it's really inspirational man I used to be in my8 years old in my bedroom at night you know doing push-ups sit-ups just trying to get better you know because Kobe said you know you have 24 hours 24 hours a day you know to get better how can you out better your competition and you know I kind of tried to live by that you know what Kobe said cuz in my opinion he's one of the greatest ever in any sport and now look at you a kid who's first toed to rock as a six-year-old for a team known as the Rams yeah playing professionally in Los Angeles Kobe's town it's crazy actually uh you know we my fiance and I we went to his memorial um it was impacting man it was uh took this Trail where you know the crash happened it was sad but uh you know we went and saw his memorial you did yeah we did we did so what did you what did what else do you want to share about that is there anything you it was just it was just the impact moment knowing that you know his daughter himself uh you know a couple others you know died in that crash but we we went to the trail it really wasn't a trail that was paved out you kind of had to pave it yourself you you're hearing rattlesnakes and stuff in the woods and whatnot but uh when you got up there it was T of basketballs jerseys you know so many people had love for Kobe because of the type of player he was and I remember watching a YouTube video he tried to play every game because he knew kids would come to the arena just to watch him play so that's why he played almost every game unless he was seriously injured or something like that but uh I have a tremendous amount of respect for Kobe and you know what he's done for all sports not just basketball and you feel the same way about when you perform I I feel the same way best believe if I can be on that field you know if it's something minor I'm I'm a fight through it just like when I tour my miniscus I tried playing Ohio State game I remember you know I just wasn't stable enough but I gave it my best shot and you know that's just because I remember being a young and you know going to high school games and wanted to watch Cortez Carter who was a high schooler in my area running back or you know watching college players and wanted to make sure or wanting to watch them play and so I want to give the same thing to the younger generation the kids that want to see me play and have you spoken of speaking of meniscus te uh JJ McCarthy yeah I reached out to him what was that conversation like if you were willing to share yeah I reached out to him I told him whatever you need man you know feel free to reach out you know I know what you're going through I went through the same thing right you know it's something minor you know you're going to come back stronger than ever you know it's better to get it done uh the repair way instead of snipping it uh which I believe all the doctors you know would agree um and so he's doing it the right way I know he's going to come back stronger than ever I know you know he's going to you know train I know he's already getting Rehab on it right so you know he'll be out maybe six months um but I tell them whatever you need you know you know I'm here for you whatever you any advice you know on the rehab part of it you know like I said I went through it it's something small man you'll be back and how much contact do you have with the team 145 that kick off against Fresno State you know I Saturday night I sent them a video first day of camp you know like a little motivational uh video that the Michigan does even when I was there you know former players would send in videos so I sent one in the first day of camp you know just letting them know the expectations you know nothing's changed you know go get it basically to sum up what I said but uh you know I talk to them here and there and I know they're locked in I know they've been grinding and I'm excited to see you know what they do Saturday night uh well tomorrow night sure yeah I can't wait well I mean so what are what are your what Insight can you give again the the defending national champs go back out there and the expectation level is you know Michigan might not even finish top three in the Big 10 with Oregon now in and Ohio State loaded for bear again and um you and JJ gone and Sandra still gone and Roman Wilson got I mean we can go down the list of everybody that got drafted by Michigan har balls across the street with the Chargers and Chiron Moors in his first year with a new quarterback what do you what's your message about the expectation level from this year football here I believe and this is just you know Winner's mindset you go into each season you know going in I'm going Win Every Game you know and how do you do that and at least how did we do it you know one day at a time one game at a time one week at a time you know just because you know first State's a good team you know but don't think about playing you know next week you know we we had to focus on the moment you know what I'm saying and so my message to the team is basically treat every team the same you know last year's last year this is a new team so new leaders need to step up right our defense is going to be phenomenal you know we we we lost a lot on the offensive side we lost some defensive players but not as many as we did on the offensive side right you know so this is where you make a statement for yourself you know the new players new offensive line coming in make a statement for yourself you know just because this isn't the team this isn't team 144 do doesn't mean you know team 145 isn't going to be good y'all have the ability to be greater than us you have to believe it and you have to be willing to put in the work and you know attack each and every day you know with the mindset that you know no one's going to beat us so you know I think it's going to be a great year for him you know they might you know face some you know trials and tribulations you know throughout the season they have a tough schedule you know they they have a tough schedule but I believe in them boys man I really do now you're in the alumni base huh I am what sold you on Michigan you're you're your part of I'm part of it now you know so whatever they need you know I got it and you can't control what's going on on that field can't nor can you control whether you're going to be around right I mean you're going to be in Flight during Michigan and Texas cuz what a by the way what a weekend that's going to be in the state of Michigan cuz it's Michigan hosting Texas and then the next night the Rams and lions renew acquaintances from the uh the playoffs last year that was a great game that was a great game so it's going to be a phenomenal weekend in the in the state of Michigan so tell me just before I I I let you go here you've got a your your your fiance sitting here 100% what's her what's her name again uh micaa maai I'm sorry to talk about you as if you're not sitting here uh so you have a a fiance you've got a professional contract yeah what's what's next for you uh there there's a lot of things uh you know boiling right now I'm about to open up a restaurant back home okay in Virginia in Virginia okay BC greens is the name okay just got the building for that okay um in stealth mode with some nil things right now to to help kids make more money okay uh you know but other than that you know just being where my feet are man just enjoying the moment you know this something I've always dreamed about and you know I'm going to keep the main thing the main thing and that's football um you know my beautiful fiance you know family I'm going to keep main thing the main thing but I have other things you know boiling up right now that I think are going to be good 22 huh you got your you got your college number twice over hey twice over and I I wore 22 in youth ball one time too did you really yeah for the Rams uh I was 24 for the Rams okay man I'm just trying to bring everything Full Circle N no but uh it's crazy I I you know when when uh the Rams called me and and told me I could pick whatever number it was like 22 26 couple other number I was like I'll go with 22 and I'm in my hometown and everywhere I went 22 started popping up we thought it was just so crazy like we went to a restaurant and they gave us a number to put on our table and it was 22 and then we went to Oldtown warrant we saw the 2 two on the sign it's like hey this is crazy mhm that's pretty cool well I can't wait to see what you do I don't know if you saw my reaction when you got drafted I love it I I love it because I I just again I I I know who you are I know what you can do I know who Shawn McVey is I know who Les need is I know what they do and I know you're perfect for it you know and I know and and Kiren Williams showed last year how you can go from college and do very well in the system if you have a certain game you have a very similar game um and um but you know but I I also know what you know you can be as well n and it's perfect no it's a perfect thing too your pressure like you don't have to be the guy either in in the same way that you have been right for for our right right alumni base um you know and so you don't have to be that and you could just live your life and go crush it Go crush it man it's the best scenario I think coming to the Rams the culture you know the love that coach McVey and the rest of the coaches have for the players yeah you know he's just a a genius when it comes to especially offensive schemes and being a head coach you know I love coming to work every day you know and that's a good thing you know it's just perfect I'm so glad I ended up with the Rams and and their organization it's amazing don't just don't let Stafford talk about Georgia that much okay but I'm I'm I'm just I'm bitter because you know Georgia punked Michigan as you know right right um in uh I think was that Aiden Hutchinson's last last game I think was his last game yeah before you see him as as a li I what's that going to be like when you're coming around the end and you might see 97 standing I might to give him a little chip you know what I'm saying hey you're professional now um you know it just um I I had to wear a Georgia hat on on NFL Network did you I did I did but many many years I wore Ohio State gear on this program I did a lot of stuff uh in our name but you the last three years has been good for oh you have no earthly idea these guys are done hearing about it but uh great having you boy they're they're excited about a new college football season but uh I'll never turn the page on team 144 nor you sir you have a you have a home here all the time I appreciate that good luck to you Blake thank you you got it catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to3 Eastern for free