Corum, Miller Named U-M Athletes of the Year
6/19/2024 2:00:00 PM | Football, General, Women's Tennis
• Michigan Athletes of the Year
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan Athletics Department announced Wednesday (June 19) that Blake Corum (football) and Kari Miller (women's tennis) have been named the 2023-24 U-M Athletes of the Year.
Corum is the 14th football player to earn the honor and the fourth in the last eight years. In addition, he is the 10th Michigan student-athlete to earn the Big Ten Medal of Honor and be named Athlete of the Year in the same year. Miller is the fourth women's tennis player to earn the department honor and third since 2017.
Both student-athletes are eligible to be named Big Ten Conference Athletes of the Year, the winners of which are determined by a media vote. The University of Michigan Athlete of the Year Award was first presented in 1982.
The following are biographical sketches on Corum and Miller.
Blake Corum (Football)
Hailing from Marshall, Va., Corum is a graduate of U-M's School of Kinesiology with a degree in sport management. He was a CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 honoree in 2021, and three times earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. This spring, he was chosen in the third round of the NFL Draft (No. 83 overall) by the Los Angeles Rams.
On the field, he leaves Michigan as one of the most accomplished players in the history of a storied program. Corum's 2022 and 2023 seasons yielded two All-America honors (unanimous first team, 2022), two top-10 Heisman Trophy finishes, two Ameche-Dayne Big Ten Running Back of the Year honors, the 2022 Chicago Tribune Silver Football award, 2023 AFCA Good Works Team Captaincy, and the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year award. After an injury ended his 2022 season in late November, he returned for the 2023 campaign. He was team captain for the 2023 national championship team and helped lead Michigan to three consecutive Big Ten Championships (2021-23) in his 45-game career.
Corum finished the 2023 season with 27 rushing touchdowns, a program record. His 28 total touchdowns, also a record, surpassed a mark set by Al Herrnstein (26) in 1902 for the most by any Wolverine and are third all-time among all Big Ten players. Corum totaled 1,245 rushing yards in 2023. He was the first Wolverine running back with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons since Mike Hart in 2006 (1,563) and 2007 (1,361). He was the only FBS player to score in every game in the 2023 season and for good measure, set U-M records for single-season (168 points) and career scoring (356), the former also a Big Ten record.
For his career, Corum ended with 58 rushing touchdowns and 61 total touchdowns, also Michigan records. In the national championship game, he was named the game's Most Valuable Player on Offense after being part of the first backfield to produce two 100-yard rushers in National Championship Game history (134 rushing yards, two touchdowns).
The star running back says, "Football is my passion, but giving back is my purpose," and he lived that mantra during his time as a Wolverine. Through NIL earnings, he generously contributed money and many hours of his time to bettering the Ann Arbor campus community and the nearby areas of Ypsilanti and Detroit, Mich., in addition to his hometown in Virginia.
Corum's flagship event has been his Giving Back 2 Give Thanks event during Thanksgiving, which he plans to continue in his future NFL city. This past November, he provided more than 600 Thanksgiving turkey meals and donated gallons of milk for those in need in Ypsilanti. Over the past three years, he donated more than 1,000 Thanksgiving meals to the community.
He provided backpacks full of school supplies to the area in a back-to-school event and undertook two holiday toy drives (2021, '23) with the Detroit Police Athletic League and Detroit Rescue Mission Ministry. In his recent drive, the public contributed more than 25,000 toys which were redistributed across Michigan, Virginia and Haiti. He has been active in visiting schools and reading to kids, contributing as a guest speaker, and has also made donations to pay rent for those in need of financial assistance.
Kari Miller (Women's Tennis)
Miller is the department's female Athlete of the Year, leading Michigan to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and a sweep of the Big Ten championship and tournament titles.
Miller earned All-America honors in both singles and doubles this past season, tying Brienne Minor for the most in program history with four total honors. She finished the season ranked No. 5 in singles, the second-best season-ending ranking for a Wolverine in program history. Miller also grabbed CSC Academic All-America first-team honors this season after earning All-District honors in 2023. She is the first Wolverine in program history to earn Academic All-America honors, while garnering three Academic All-Big Ten honors during her time at Michigan.
Miller participated in both the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships for the second straight season in 2024. She became just the third Wolverine in program history to make four NCAA Singles Championship appearances, earning the No. 4 seed for the 2024 tournament.
She was named the 2024 Big Ten Athlete of the Year this past season, going 5-0 in Big Ten action as the Wolverines repeated as both Big Ten champions and Big Ten Tournament champions. It was her second Big Ten Athlete of the Year accolade after winning the honor in 2022. Miller also earned All-Big Ten honors for the fourth straight season.
Miller went 15-5 at the top of the lineup for Michigan this season, ending the year ranked No. 5 in singles action. She swept the singles and doubles titles at the 2023 ITA Midwest Regional Championships and spent the entire spring season ranked in the top 10 in singles. Miller finished with a 30-9 overall singles record.
On the doubles court, she went 24-16 and ended the season ranked No. 12 in doubles with Jaedan Brown as the pair earned its second straight All-America citation by virtue of a No. 5-8 seed for the 2024 NCAA Doubles Championship.
Miller ended her illustrious career in the maize and blue ranked 10th all-time with 95 singles wins, accumulating a 95-37 overall singles record. Her .720 winning percentage in singles action is the eighth-best mark in program history, and she is one of 11 Wolverines in program history to win better than 70 percent of her singles matches.
She made a run to the quarterfinals of both the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in 2023, earning the first All-America honors of her career last season.
Miller was recently named to the USTA Summer Collegiate Team, one of six women to earn a spot on the team. Each of the players was selected based on a number of criteria, including rankings, individual collegiate tournament results or Intercollegiate Tennis Association honors. Players on the team are eligible to receive a grant for travel to USTA Pro Circuit events and coaching support over the summer.
Miller graduated from Michigan with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the Ross School of Business.
