Penn State’s Hull dressed for success
Penn State linebacker Mike Hull (43) breaks up a pass in last year’s game against Indiana. It was a breakout game for the Canon-McMillan High School graduate: He had the first double-digit tackle game of his career with 11.
Penn State linebackers Glenn Carson, left, and Mike Hull wait for a group photo during media day in August at Beaver Stadium.
Mike Hull has ditched the street clothes on football Saturdays for what he hopes is the rest of the season.
Twice this year, the Penn State linebacker has been forced to watch helplessly on the sidelines, unable to suit up after suffering a knee injury in the first half of the season opener against Syracuse on what coach Bill O’Brien said was a clean cut block.
And quite frankly, Hull doesn’t like it.
“It tore me up not playing with my teammates,” the Canon-McMillan graduate said in a conference call earlier this week. “I was real disappointed. I was really anticipating this season, having a good year, starting off on the right foot, and it was taken away from me in the first game.”
Hull sat out the next week against Eastern Michigan, played sparingly in a loss to Central Florida, then sat out again against Kent State.
“The first game was real tough just because I hever had an injury where I had to sit out,” Hull said. “I just had to focus on rehabbing and getting gack to where I could play.”
He returned to the starting lineup last Saturday in the Lions’ first-ever loss to Indiana following a bye week and registered the second career double-digit tackle game of his career with 10 stops.
After the game, O’Brien said, “I saw him make some plays. He’s a tough kid but he’s hurt, he’s playing hurt. He’s got the thing wrapped up, a knee brace on over it, he’s playing tough. He’s a fantastic kid and is a great example of what we’re all about and he’ll continue to play hurt. That’s just the type of kid he is.”
Hull estimates he is 90 to 95 percent healthy heading into Saturday’s homecoming clash with Michigan at Beaver Stadium. The game starts at 5 p.m. and is the only sellout at the stadium this year.
“I’m just trying to go in each and every game and fly around,” he said. “I’m not tentative. The last game gave me a lot more confidence. I don’t want to make too many plays where I compromise the defense and get out of position.”
As a three-sport high school standout, Hull enrolled at Penn State in 2010 as one of the most celebrated athletes to come out of Canon-McMillan. He was named the Observer-Reporter’s 2009-10 Boy Athlete of the Year.
Hull redshirted his first season at Penn State, but saw considerable action in 2011, playing in every game on special teams and defense.
Last year, however, was a mixed bag.
After the NCAA announced in July its unprecedented sanctions against the Penn State football program for the university leadership’s complicity in the child sex abuse scandal involving Washington native Jerry Sandusky, Hull considered transferring. He visited the University of Pittsburgh just one week before the Nittany Lions were scheduled to begin preseason camp.
But once he got his emotions under control, his decision was easy.
“I’m a Penn State guy at heart,” he said last year during Penn State’s media day. “It was the best decision for myself.”
Hull headed into the 2012 season as the No. 4 linebacker, but he played in every game. He made his first career start in the final game of the season against Wisconsin after senior co-captain Mike Mauti suffered a torn ACL – his third – the previous week.
Hull finished the season sixth on the team in tackles with 58, including 34 solo tackles, and was tied for third with four sacks for losses totaling 25 yards. He had two fumble recoveries, including one for a touchdown against Navy, an interception and a blocked punt in the second quarter against Ohio State that Trinity High School graduate Michael Yancich pounced on in the end zone for a Penn State touchdown.
Last week against Indiana, the Penn State defense had several breakdowns, but Hull and O’Brien expect better things tomorrow.
Otherwise, it could be a long night for the Lions against Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner, who is equally as threatening as a runner as he is a passer. The defense’s job is to force him to be as one-dimensional as possible.
“When he gets out of the pocket, he’s very dangerous. I think the thing you’ve got to try to do is really keep him in the pocket,” O’Brien said.
Hull is ready to do just that.
“It’s extremely important when you have a quarterback who can run that two people aren’t doing the same thing, or he’ll get big yards,” Hull said. “We have to be on the same page for every defensive play.”
That wasn’t the case, Hull said, against Indiana.
“We had a breakdown there in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We have to play assignment football and do what we have to do. … I’m sure I’ll be more effective this week.”