Pro Football Focus shows why Michigan State fans should believe in Cam Edwards

There have been a few early recruiting wins in the Pat Fitzgerald era at Michigan State that have caught me off guard. Retaining Samson Gash was one, landing Caleb Johnson over Indiana is another, and securing a commitment from a transfer running back who looks like he’s about to be the class of the Big Ten.

Cam Edwards was a star at UConn, rushing for 1,240 yards and 15 touchdowns for a UConn team that surprised everyone and went 9-4 last year.

Edwards had 830 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore and 680 yards and four touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. On top of that consistently-improving production, Edwards caught 47 passes over those three seasons for 467 yards and four touchdowns. Anyone who had watched UConn football over the past few years knew of his impact.

For those of us who really only got to know him as a breakout junior, knowing that Fitzgerald was able to beat out some big-time programs to land him is exciting, to say the least.

Edwards could be the next elite running back in East Lansing, returning that ground-and-pound offense that’s been missing since Kenneth Walker III. A lot of us know that Edwards is going to be really good, but yet another grade proves that he’s a special talent.

Pro Football Focus has him graded as the eighth-best returning running back in the Big Ten.

And I still think this might be too low. Obviously PFF has its own grading scale that all of us aren’t privy to, so the grades are just random numbers that a lot of us choose to follow religiously (when they favor MSU).

I’m going to choose to allow this one because Edwards is ranked higher than, let’s say, a publication like Pick Six Previews sees the UConn transfer. Edwards is also a Heisman candidate in my first season of College Football 27 so I know he’s going to be really good — I’m obviously (half) joking.

I believe he’ll be a top five running back in the Big Ten, at least, this season.

It’d be cool if history (Kenneth Walker III) repeated itself at MSU

There aren’t too many memorable moments from the Mel Tucker era that are worth sharing outside of the rise of K9. The former Doak Walker Award winner joined Tucker’s first actual recruiting class after the rushed COVID-19 season and immediately turned the offense around. He was electric and all he needed was for a coaching staff to believe in him.

Walker finished as a top-five Heisman candidate and probably should have been top three but he was snubbed from the ceremony in New York.

He really helped Tucker get the ball rolling and took a team projected to be middle of the pack in the Big Ten to a New Year’s Six bowl.

It’d be really cool if Pat Fitzgerald could get that type of impact from Edwards. I’m not saying he has to win the Doak Walker Award and rush for over 1,500 yards, but providing a spark to the offense that it hasn’t seen in years would be a welcomed and he could spark a quick turnaround if things go right.

Lightning can’t strike twice at the same position at the same school, can it?

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