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4 - The Michigan Daily -- Football Saturday - November 13, 2004
The Michigan Daily - Football Sa
I
Mike Hart has always wanted to be a Michigan running back. Some just never thought it would actual]
By Bob Hunt " Daily Sports Editor
ly happen.
Mike Hart's mother says that things happen for a
reason. That became as apparent as ever shortly
after her son committed to play for Michigan.
Sifting through things around the house, she discovered a
Martin Luther King Day poem that Mike wrote when he
was 7 years old. In the piece he laid out his dream - to
play for the University of Michigan and break Barry Sand-
ers's rushing record.
Whether Hart will ever break Sanders' Single-season
rushing record - an NCAA-record 2,628 yards for Okla-
homa State in 1988 - remains to be seen. But Hart has
transformed from high school legend to collegiate star in
a span of months. In his first seven games as Michigan's
feature running back, he has run for 1,145 yards. The true
freshman has averaged nearly 35 yards more per game in
that span than his predecessor, Heisman Trophy finalist
Chris Perry, did throughout last season.
The kid who friends recall growing up in Michigan gear
is donning the Maize and Blue on Saturdays - and now
he has 110,000 friends who will remember him.
RisiNG FROM OBSCURITY
Hart has always had his doubters. They said that the
only reason he broke nearly every national high school
rushing record was because he played against schools like
his own, which had just 89 kids in his graduating class.
They questioned the chances of his 5-foot-9 frame taking
the pounding in major college football.
So far, he's proved them all wrong.
Hart's dream appeared improbable when his mother,
Rory Rushlow, decided to move her daughter and three
sons from the Syracuse, N.Y. suburb of Liverpool before
Mike's eighth-grade year. Rushlow felt her daughter, a
year older than Mike, wouldn't be best suited in a high
school of more than 2,700 students; and that Mike, had
already professed his love for football and had been tagged
as a gifted athlete, shouldn't be treated as just another
black athlete but as a person who can get good grades. She
chose to move to the small town of Nedrow, located south
of Syracuse with a population of just over 2,000. Her kids
would go to Onondaga Central, a combined junior-senior
high school that she had attended.
Onondaga wasn't exactly known for its football pro-
gram. The Class D (the lowest in New York) program was
actually abandoned in the early 1990s because of a lack of
participation. The program returned in 1998 and had been
improving under the direction of coach Bill Spicer, but it
was far from a state power. Rushlow spoke about her deci-
sion with a friend. The friend said of Mike, "If he's as good
as I think he is, he's going to be noticed wherever you take
him. Don't let football be your deterrent for moving."
There was another issue, as well. Rushlow, who is
white, was worried over how her biracial children would
be accepted in a school that was full of prejudice when she
had attended it.
Despite Rushlow's concerns, the family moved to Ned-
row and Mike went to Onondaga. But when he went out for
football in ninth grade - the school has just one team due
to its enrollment - he originally was placed on the sec-
ond-string defense and was left off the offense altogether
despite all the praise he received in Pop Warner football.
Then in the team's first scrimmage the starting running
back took a big hit, and Hart happened to be standing right
next to Spicer on the sidelines. Spicer asked him to fill in
for one play.
Hart ran for a touchdown.
He would go onto rush for 204 touchdowns in his four
years at Onondaga - a national record. Among his other
accomplishments:
- 47 consecutive 100-yard games - a national record;
" 1,246 points - a national record;
- 11,045 yards - just 188 shy of the half century-old
national record.
Hart also led the school to a 39-0 record and three con-
secutive Class D state championships in his final three
years. Yet Onondaga oppo-
nents never seemed to believe
that Hart deserved his stature,
gaining respect for him after
they had been beaten.
"There's still going to be
people that doubt him," said
Carl Runge, Hart's former
teammate and one of his best
friends. "I don't know why."
The school district, which
covers vast geographical and
socioeconomic boundaries,
became unified over the Onon-
daga Tigers. Elderly residents
who were disconnected from
the community came out to
see Mike play. One older man,
who started coming with his
dog to every game and prac-
tice, wrote Mike a letter say-
ing that watching him play
changed his life.
"The joke was that if any-
one wanted to rob anywhere,
it was there, because everyone
was at the football game on
Friday night," Rushlow said.
During Hart's freshman and
sophomore years, he started to
attract people from all over
Freshman Sensations
s-
Michigan's
Mike Hart
*e art
in his life.
When Rushlow visited
Ann Arbor, she was most
impressed by the demeanor
of the football program. She
liked how the players she met
were respectful. She appreci-
ated how Carr mentioned his
success in the classroom in
addition to on the field. She
also respected the openness
of Carr and running backs
coach Fred Jackson.
So Rushlow gave the green
light to her son, with the con-
dition that he wait until after
their summer vacation to
announce his commitment.
Soon after, in July, Spicer
called Rushlow to say that
they had already scheduled
a 7 a.m. press conference to
announce that Hart would
become a Wolverine.
Hart, though, had still yet
to answer the question as to
whether he would handle
the rigors of the Big Ten as a
starting tailback. Many out-
side the program assumed
that he would redshirt. There
mate at Onondaga.
"Just give me three or four games, and I'll be starting."
It took three.
Going into the season, all the rhetoric coming out of the
program was that senior David Underwood was the clear
starter. Underwood had never established himself as a
dependable back for the Wolverines, but he had lost weight
in the offseason and was in the best shape of his life. Hart
received some reps in one of the first goalline scrimmages
of fall practice. He got hit, stayed up and ran into the cor-
ner of the endzone, showing an ability that Michigan fans
would soon become familiar with.
Carr said from the beginning that Hart would receive
some playing time, but Underwood started the season
opener against Miami (Ohio). Underwood looked tenta-
tive, picking up 64 yards on 22 carries. He then got hurt
the following week against Notre Dame, and Carr gave
Jerome Jackson an opportunity. Jackson finished with 38
yards on 15 carries in the Michigan loss.
Hart was then given his chance the following week
against San Diego State when he fulfilled a role he has
yet to relinquish. He received more reps in practice in the
week leading up to the game, then ran for 121 yards on
Saturday. All of a sudden, Michigan had found its running
back, and a kid had realized his boyhood dream.
Hart has already shattered the school freshman running
record of 748 set in 1990 by Ricky Powers.
The 18-year-old has been successful because of his abil-
ity to find the hole and plow through it, breaking tackles
with ease while having the stamina to carry the ball almost
exclusively.
Even though Hart has taken the position from older
running backs, he says they have been nothing but sup-
portive.
"They're great," Hart said. "They don't try to put you
down or anything. They tell me they're behind me 100
percent, and they are."
SUPRT r FRoM HomE
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said.
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She had always
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his left shoulder.
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for his two younge
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"He's more like
said.
But all eyes are
for the Big Ten ch
the season. Last S
Baas were in the tr
Syracuse. Then, as Hart's legend grew, people were com-
ing from all over the state. Rushlow once met a guy who
drove four hours each week to catch the sensation.
"There were people traveling hundreds and hundreds of
miles just to come watch him play," Spicer said.
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Despite his exploits running the football, people
were skeptical as to whether his legend would ever
extend beyond Onondaga. He had made tremendous
strides working with former Syracuse University
strength coach Cory Parker. Yet people wondered if
he could excel at the next level because of his small
stature and the quality of competition he would face in
college ball. But Michigan was still impressed by his
accomplishments.
"He did everything that he was capable of doing,"
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "He dominated the com-
petition. When you turned on the film, you saw him get
the football and run for a touchdown. What you like to see
in a football player at this level is a player that dominates,
because if he doesn't dominate, then you're trying to find
guys that do."
Hart would find out that he would get a shot at his Wol-
verine dream while visiting schools informally during the
spring break of his junior year with Spicer, his brother
Chris and a teammate. Spicer got a call on his cell from
someone in the Michigan recruiting office soon after the
contingent left Michigan State. The caller had seen Hart's
game tape, wanted to meet him and was curious as to
when he could visit.
Little did they know he was just 20 minutes outside of
Ann Arbor. Spicer asked if they could come over now, and
Michigan ended up giving him an offer on the spot.
Hart wanted to commit right there. After all, this had
always been his dream. He also wanted his mother to see
Ann Arbor for herself. But there was one small problem.
Before Mike went through the recruiting process, his
mother wanted him to go to school outside the state of
Michigan. Hart's father's family is from Detroit - his
father still lives in Syracuse - a reason his best friends
speculated as to why he always loved Michigan. Rush-
low was concerned that her ex-husband's family would
begin popping up after previously taking a minor role
was even a rumor that he would play cornerback, as
recruiting guru Tom Lemming had Hart rated as the No. 6
cornerback in the nation. Even at the barbershop in Syra-
cuse, they jokingly told him that he was too small and that
he was not going to play. (Hart had long, braided hair in
high school, but decided to cut it since his girlfriend could
no longer be there to braid it for him.)
But Hart never thought he was going to sit out a year. In
the June after his graduation, he went to Ann Arbor for his
freshman orientation and worked out with various Wol-
verines for about 10 days. Upon his return, he had a few
words for one of his best friends, Felipe Diaz, his team-
championship ring
Hart is also receiving nothing but support from back Hart's finger, and
home. Diaz and Runge talk to him almost every other day the ring and replie
about how he's doing on and off the field. On gameday, Sometimes thin
TONY DING/Daily
Hart runs in a playoff game during his senior year of high school. Each year, the seniors at Onondaga choose their helmet design before the seasoi
design. That July, Hart verbally committed to Michigan.