Mick McCabe's journalism career turned 50 on Wednesday. In honor of his milestone, the Free Press' longtime former high school sports columnist selected all-time teams of players he covered in football and boys and girls basketball during his career. Here is his football team:
Offense
E: Antonio Gates
Detroit Central, 1997
The best tight end in state history. Caught 30 passes for 581 yards and nine touchdowns. An all-stater in football and basketball, he carried Central to the 1998 Class A basketball state championship while averaging 27 points and 15 rebounds. Helped Kent State’s basketball team to the NCAA Elite Eight. Never played a down of college football but signed a free-agent deal with San Diego. He was a five-time Pro Bowler with an NFL-record 116 TDs for a tight end, among his 955 receptions for 11,841 yards. In five years he will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
OL: Kevin Hart
Birmingham Brother Rice, 1974
A captain and mainstay of the offensive and defensive lines on the mythical state championship team — the state playoffs didn’t begin until the next season — maybe Rice’s best team of all time. He also played on the ’74 Rice state championship team. Three-time letter winner at Notre Dame and a member of the ’77 national championship team. His father, Leon, won the 1949 Heisman Trophy and played for the Lions. He currently runs the Kevin Hart and Associates Architecture and Engineers.
OL: Luis Sharpe
Detroit Southwestern, 1977
A high school All-American and 1981 All-American at UCLA. He was the 16th pick and the first offensive lineman chosen in the 1982 NFL draft by the Cardinals. He was a mainstay at left tackle from 1982-94, missing only 12 games until a knee injury virtually ended his career. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and had a bit part in the movie “Waiting to Exhale.” A 20-year drug addiction to crack cocaine led to an eight-year prison sentence.
OL: Gabe Watson
Southfield, 2001
A four-year, two-way starter, he developed as a player by joining the wrestling team. Even though at 365 pounds he could come nowhere close to making the 275-pound limit, he never missed practice and attended all of the meets. Southfield ran 85% of the offense behind him, and he had 57 tackles and was the kicker for two years. A three-year starter at Michigan, he was a two-time All-Big Ten selection. The fourth-round draft choice by Arizona, he played five years with the Cardinals. He did an amazing imitation of Lloyd Carr.
OL: Anthony (Spice) Adams
Detroit King, 1997
He gained acclaim as a rugged offensive guard before becoming a force on the defensive line where he was a clogging agent. He played four seasons at Penn State on the defensive line, with his senior year being the most impressive (67 tackles, 13 tackles for loss). He was a second-round draft pick of San Francisco, played four seasons with the 49ers and five with the Chicago Bears, where he began to show his amusing personality. In 2016, he began a recurring role on HBO’s “Ballers,” and a year later was one of the hosts of “The Great American Baking Show.” He also co-hosts “Inside the Bears” and is a regular on the Big Ten Network. A social media rock star, he has over 244,100 Twitter followers. In high school, he was nicknamed Spice because he was the missing ingredient.
OL: Jake Long
Lapeer East, 2002
A tremendous two-way starter, he was also all-league — at 6-foot-7, 305 pounds — on East’s basketball (14.5 ppg, 10 rpg) and baseball (.455 avg., school-record eight home runs) teams. He was an amazing run blocker at Michigan, where he was two-time All-America and the No. 1 pick of the 2008 draft by Miami. He also played for St. Louis, Atlanta and Minnesota before retiring after the 2016 season. A gentle soul, his nickname growing up was Pooh from “Winnie the Pooh.”
E: Charles Rogers
Saginaw, 1999
Helped Saginaw win the Division 2 championship, catching 40 passes for 760 yards and 14 TDs as a senior. He was also an excellent basketball player, one of the top receivers in the country and a recruiting coup for Michigan State. In two seasons, he caught 135 passes for 2,821 yards and 27 TDs. He won the Biletnikoff Award as the country’s No. 1 receiver. He was the No. 2 pick of the 2003 draft, one of the Lions' worst selections ever. He appeared in only 15 games over three seasons. He had two broken collarbones early in his career and became addicted to painkillers. He died Nov. 11, 2019, believed to be suffering from liver failure and cancer.
QB: Mill Coleman
Farmington Hills Harrison, 1989
"The Thrill" began his career at Albion, but transferred to Harrison. A two-time Dream Team quarterback, he led Harrison to a state runner-up finish as a sophomore and two state titles. He was the first quarterback in state history to throw for over 7,000 career yards. He finished with 7,464 yards and 77 touchdowns and was selected as the Free Press quarterback of the decade. He signed with Michigan State where he was mainly a receiver and return specialist, catching 126 passes for 1,813 yards and eight touchdowns. He spent time with the Chicago Bears before playing for Montreal in the CFL for two seasons.
RB: Tyrone Wheatley
Dearborn Heights Robichaud, 1990
Perhaps the state’s finest athlete ever. Spent the first half of his senior season playing quarterback before moving back to tailback, gaining 2,010 yards and scoring 33 TDs in leading Robichaud to the state title. As a junior in track, he carried Robichaud to the state title by winning the long jump, 110 hurdles and the 100- and 200-yard dashes. As a senior, he won the long jump, 110 hurdles and the 100. He was an outstanding basketball player, once dunking from the free-throw line. He signed with Michigan, where he earned All-Big Ten honors in football and track. He gained over 1,000 yards in each of his final three seasons, finishing with 4,178 yards and 47 TDs on 688 carries, 6.12 yards per carry. He was a first-round pick of the New York Giants and played five seasons with the Giants and five seasons with Oakland. He led the Raiders in rushing three times. He accumulated over 6,500 all-purpose yards in his career. He is now the head coach at Morgan State.
RB: Jerome Bettis
Detroit Mackenzie, 1989
"The Bus" was as good a linebacker as he was a running back, although bowling was his favorite sport as a kid. As a senior, he gained 1,365 yards and scored 14 TDs on 123 carries. Defensively, he batted down nine passes He played at Notre Dame for three years, gaining 1,912 yards and scoring 27 TDs on 337 carries. He was selected by the Los Angeles Rams with the 10th pick of the first round in 1993. After three seasons, he was traded to the Steelers for the final 10 years of his Hall of Fame career. He finished eighth on the list of NFL rushers, totaling 13,662 yards and 91 touchdowns on 3,479 carries. His final game was in Ford Field, where the Steelers won the 2006 Super Bowl.
RB: Mark Ingram Jr.
Flint Southwestern, 2007
Began senior year with a 319-yard, four-touchdown game against Grand Blanc and finished the season with 1,699 yards and 24 TDs on 192 carries. Southwestern finished 4-5 so there were no playoff games. His coach was suspended for a game for playing two convicted felons and some of his teammates initially wanted to boycott the game. Ingram insisted they play and rushed for 377 yards and six TDs on 20 carries. He signed with Alabama and won the Heisman Trophy after rushing for 1,658 yards and scoring 17 TDs as a sophomore. He left Alabama following his junior year, which was hampered by knee surgery a week before the season began. At Alabama he totaled 3,261 yards and 42 touchdowns on 572 carries. New Orleans selected him with the 28th pick in 2011. He signed with Baltimore in March 2019 and carried the ball 202 times and gained 1,018 yards with 10 touchdowns. His father was a star receiver at Michigan State and played 10 seasons in the NFL.
K: Jake Moody
Northville, 2018
The No. 6 kicker in the nation, he began his senior season with a 57-yard field goal, third-longest in state history. A month later, he kicked a 58-yarder, 1 yard short of the state record. As a junior, he converted 14 of 17 field goals, including ones from 50 and 53 yards. As a senior, he was 12 of 17, including makes of 58, 57 and 55 yards. He has three of the six longest kicks in state history. He also averaged 39.6 per punt and following a safety, he put the ball on a tee at the 20-yard line and kicked off into the other end zone for a touchback. He will be a junior at Michigan this fall. As a freshman he made 10 of 11 attempts with a long of 48 yards. Against Indiana that year he made all six attempts. Last season he converted 6 of 9 field goal attempts with a long of 43.
Defense
DL: Mark Messner
Detroit Catholic Central, 1983"
Few defensive players controlled a game from the noseguard position like he did. Former CC coach Tom Mach said Messner was the best lineman he had ever seen. His incredible quickness allowed him to get to plays on each sideline. A defensive tackle at Michigan, he became the first position player to be selected All-Big Ten for four straight seasons and became a two-time All-American. He started every game (49) in his college career and set U-M records with 70 tackles for loss and yardage lost (376). The Rams picked him in the sixth round. He played in four regular-season games as a rookie and suffered a career-ending knee injury in the 1990 NFC championship game.
DE: Nick Perry
Detroit King, 2007
He transferred to King when Detroit Mackenzie closed, and helped the Crusaders to their first state title with a dominating season; he had 147 tackles, 68 for loss and set the state record with 36 sacks. Signed with Southern Cal and in three seasons had 29.5 tackles for loss and 21.5 sacks. Drafted 28th by the Green Bay Packers. Had 139 solo tackles and 75 assists in his seven seasons. The Packers released him on March 12, 2019 to save salary cap space and he did not play last season.
DL: Mike Lodish
Birmingham Brother Rice, 1984
Former Rice coach Al Fracassa once described Lodish as “hostile,” which was a perfect description of the way he played. He was once penalized 15 yards for throwing snow on the center’s head before a snap. He signed with UCLA and became an All-Pac-10 performer. In 1988, he stole the ball from the Stanford quarterback and returned it 17 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in a 27-17 victory. Selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 10th round. He played for 11 seasons — five with Buffalo and the last six with Denver — and became the first player in NFL history to play in six Super Bowls, a record he held until it was broken by Tom Brady. He played on two Super Bowl championship teams, both with Denver.
LB: LaMarr Woodley
Saginaw, 2002
He starred as an offensive tackle and a linebacker. As a freshman, he blocked three defenders to spring Terry Jackson for the game-winning touchdown to beat Brother Rice, 14-7, for the state title. As a senior he was listed as the third-best linebacker in the country. At Michigan, he totaled 117 tackles, including 16.5 tackles for loss, and 50.5 for his career. He had half of his 24 sacks as a senior when he won the Lombardi Award as the country’s top lineman. He was also unanimous first-team All-America and Big Ten defensive player of the year. The Steelers selected him on the second round, the 46th pick. He played nine seasons in the NFL, the first seven with Pittsburgh. He played in two Super Bowls with the Steelers. In Super Bowl XLIII he became the first player to record multiple sacks in four straight playoff games, including his second sack of Kurt Warner that forced a fumble with five seconds left to secure the victory. He also played in the Super Bowl XLV loss to Green Bay. He finished with 304 total tackles and 57 sacks. In 2012, he wrote a check for $60,000 to cover the pay-to-play fee for every high school and middle school athlete in Saginaw.
LB: Pat Shurmur
Dearborn Divine Child, 1982
He had almost 140 tackles in helping DC reach the state finals as a senior and was terrific on offense at center. Because of multiple injuries on the offensive line, he was moved to center at Michigan State and was the smallest center in the Big Ten. He started for three years and as a senior helped lead MSU to the 1987 Rose Bowl and was named All-Big Ten and honorable mention All-America. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at MSU and became a full-time assistant before heading to the NFL. He has the reputation of being a “quarterback whisperer” for his development of quarterbacks. He was an assistant with Philadelphia (twice), St. Louis and Minnesota. He had two-year head coaching stops in Cleveland and with the New York Giants. In January, he was named offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos. His uncle, Fritz, was an NFL assistant for 24 years. His son, Kyle, was a top recruit and was a three-year starter at quarterback at Vanderbilt.
LB: Thomas (Pepper) Johnson
Detroit Mackenzie, 1981
Averaged 12 tackles a game and was captain of Mackenzie’s football, basketball and baseball teams. Played four seasons at Ohio State and led the team in tackles in 1984 and ’85. All-America in ’85 and finished with 379 tackles, five sacks and 12 tackles for loss in his career. The Giants selected him in the second round of the ’86 draft. He played 13 seasons, the first seven with the Giants, with whom he won two Super Bowls, and finished with Cleveland, Detroit and the Jets. He was an assistant coach with New England from 2000 to 2013, winning three Super Bowls. He was upset when he was passed over as defensive coordinator in favor of now-Lions coach Matt Patricia. He left the Patriots in 2014 and finished his NFL coaching career with stops at Buffalo and the Jets. He earned his nickname because as a youngster he used to put pepper on his breakfast cereal.
LB: Jon Jansen
Clawson, 1993
Two-way standout, catching 32 passes for 420 yards as a tight end. As a linebacker, he had 102 tackles as a senior. He could have been a Division I basketball player. He was a star at Michigan, where he became an offensive tackle and started a record 50 consecutive games. A two-time All-Big ten selection, he was a key factor on the 1997 national championship team and was All-America in ‘98. Washington made him a second-round pick in 1999, and he started every game as a rookie when Washington’s sack total dropped from 61 to 31. In 2002, he was voted by his teammates as the team’s “Unsung Hero” and became a team captain in his third season. After his fifth year of never missing a start (82 games), coupled with his 50 straight starts at U-M, his Washington teammates nicknamed him “The Rock.” He ruptured his Achilles tendon in a 2004 exhibition game and missed the rest of the reason, but returned a year later and started every game in 2005. He spent 10 seasons with Washington and completed his career with the Lions in 2009. He was with the Big Ten Network for three seasons and currently is part of the Michigan Sports Network and IMG.
DB: Tony Dungy
Jackson Parkside, 1972
A terrific athlete, he would have been an all-state defensive back, but he played sparingly in the secondary because he was too valuable on offense. In 1972, before there were state playoffs, Dungy quarterbacked Parkside to an 8-1 season, completing 91 of 167 passes for 1,467 yards and 26 TDs while running the Houston veer offense to perfection. He received some all-state acclaim in basketball and as a junior hit .416 in baseball. He was also a talented high-jumper. He signed with Minnesota and finished with school records for completions (274), passes attempted (576), passing yards (3,516), touchdowns, (25) and total offense (4,680). He also lettered in basketball as a freshman, but gave it up to concentrate on football. Signed with Pittsburgh as an undrafted free agent and played safety in ’77 and on the Super Bowl winning ’78 team. In 1977, he became the most recent player to throw an interception and intercept a pass in the same game after injuries forced him to play quarterback. The next season he was traded to San Francisco, where he played his final season. He began coaching at the University of Minnesota in 1980 and the next year he went to the Steelers as the NFL’s youngest assistant. In ’84 he became the youngest defensive coordinator in the league. He left to coach at Kansas City for one year before becoming the Vikings defensive coordinator. Tampa Bay, which had 12 double-digit losses in the previous 13 seasons, hired him as its head coach in 1996. The Bucs won 10 games in his second season and made the playoffs. After six seasons, which included four playoff appearances, he was fired. Eight days later, he was hired by Indianapolis. In the 2006 season, with Indianapolis, he became the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl. His overall record was 148-79.
DB: John Miller
Farmington Hills Harrison, 1984
One of the best all-around players in state history. As a junior, he earned a spot on the Dream Team defense and as a senior made the Dream Team offense. He finished his career with 4,493 yards rushing (6.2 yards per carry) and 72 touchdowns. He also had 262 tackles and 20 interceptions and helped Harrison win its first two state championships, in 1981 and ‘82. He signed with Michigan State. As a junior, he had four interceptions against Michigan to spark a 17-11 victory. He was a key member of the secondary that led the Spartans to Big Ten and Rose Bowl championships. After leaving MSU he played briefly with the Lions. His son, Grayson, played football at MSU.
DB: Todd Lyght
Flint Powers, 1986
He caught 38 passes for 877 yards and nine touchdowns, and could have made the Dream Team on defense. He signed with Notre Dame, where he had 161 tackles with 20.5 pass break-ups and 11 interceptions. He is the only player in Notre Dame history that was a starter on a national championship team (1988), a unanimous All-American (’89), a first-round draft choice (by the Rams), won a Super Bowl (Rams, ’99) and was all-pro (’99). In 10 seasons with the Rams, he had 31 interceptions and 145 pass break-ups. In Super Bowl XXXIV he had six tackles and blocked a field goal in the Rams 23-16 victory. In 2001, with the Lions, he played in all 16 games and had 59 tackles and four interceptions. In 2002, he played in all 16 games and made 99 tackles. He also became the oldest player (33 years, 323 days) to return a blocked field goal for a touchdown. He coached with the Eagles and at Oregon and Vanderbilt. For the last five years he coached the cornerbacks at Notre Dame, but recently left to be with his family in California.
DB Courtney Hawkins
Flint Beecher, 1987
Started at quarterback as a freshman and gained over 1,000 yards rushing as a sophomore running back. He started in the secondary as a junior and became a two-time Dream Team defensive back. In basketball, he helped Beecher reach the Class B state finals three times, winning two titles. In track, he was a factor on three state championship teams. He signed with Michigan State and in 1989 set the school record with 1,080 yards receiving. He helped the Spartans win the 1990 Big Ten title and was elected team MVP in ’91. He had 138 career receptions for 2,210 yards and twice earned All-Big Ten honors. Tampa Bay selected him in the second round in 1992 (44th player). He played five seasons with Tampa Bay and four with Pittsburgh. For his career he caught 366 passes for 4,573 yards and 18 TDs. He returned to Beecher 14 years ago, leading it to the playoffs 12 times. He was the school’s athletic director for the last eight years. This will be his first season as wide receivers coach at MSU.
Coach: John Herrington
Farmington Hills Harrison, 1970-2019
Began his coaching career in 1962 as the junior varsity coach at North Farmington. He was remarkably successful there, once winning 36 consecutive JV games. Harrison opened in 1970 and he became the school’s first, and only, head coach before it closed at the conclusion of the 2018-19 school year. He became the winningest coach in state history on Oct. 13, 2017, and completed his career with a 443-112-1 record. Harrison won a state-record 13 state championships. Most impressive is Herrington won 81.6% of his state playoff games (93-21). He also coached baseball for over 40 years.
"football" - Google News
June 03, 2020 at 05:18PM
https://ift.tt/3duH3A9
Mick McCabe: I've covered prep football for 50 years. These kids are the best I've ever seen - Detroit Free Press
"football" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ST7s35
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Mick McCabe: I've covered prep football for 50 years. These kids are the best I've ever seen - Detroit Free Press"
Posting Komentar