Hull has his chance with Dolphins
All Canon-McMillan High School graduate Mike Hull wanted was an opportunity to make an NFL roster.
Hull got that when the Miami Dolphins signed him as a free agent after he went unselected in the NFL Draft two months ago.
What he does with that chance now is squarely in his hands.
“I have to prove myself. Everyone has to prove themselves,” Hull told reporters in Miami. “College is over. The NFL is a whole other league and level. You just have to come ready every day.”
In case he didn’t already know, Hull found that out during the Dolphins’ offseason workouts and mini-camps.
Now, the former Penn State star is preparing for his first training camp with the hopes of sticking on Miami’s 53-man roster or eight-man practice squad.
Making the 53-man roster is the main goal, but life isn’t bad on the practice squad, either.
While a player on the 53-man roster earns a minimum of $405,000 for the season as a first-year player, one who remains on the practice squad earns $6,300 per week or a salary of $102,000 for the season.
To win one of those spots, Hull will have to distinguish himself from the other young linebackers on Miami’s roster when the team’s training camp opens July 30 at Doctors Hospital Training Facility in Davie, Fla.
Hull led the Big Ten in tackles with 140 last season, an average of nearly 11 per game. He added two sacks and was named the conference’s top linebacker.
But at 6-0 and 232 pounds, he doesn’t have the ideal size for the NFL. A knee injury that forced him to have surgery following Penn State’s bowl win over Boston College then a hamstring injury suffered at Penn State’s pro day didn’t help his draft situation.
Going undrafted, however, does have its benefits. It allowed Hull to pick where he wanted to go in the NFL rather than possibly being a late-round draft pick on a loaded roster.
Miami currently has 10 linebackers on its roster, including four undrafted rookies. Head coach Joe Philbin, a Washington & Jefferson College graduate, kept eight linebackers on his roster last season, so that might help Hull.
The Dolphins also were very interested in Hull, enough so that they gave him a signing bonus of $12,500, the most they gave any undrafted rookie.
Linebackers coach Mark Duffner was in contact with Hull every day in the two weeks leading up to the draft. Miami, however, didn’t have a pick after the fifth round because of trades.
“We kept the candle lit in the church hoping he wouldn’t get drafted,” Duffner told reporters.
“Every time I looked at Penn State tapes, Mike Hull was in the picture. We talk about liking productive players here. He is a productive player.”
Hull is the first player from Washington or Greene counties to go into training camp with an NFL team since 2008, when Washington High School’s Travis Thomas and Dan Mozes were with Cleveland and Minnesota, respectively. Thomas played at Notre Dame, while Mozes is a former West Virginia star.
Thomas and Mozes each saw their opportunities derailed by injuries. If Hull can avoid that, he believes he has a solid chance to stick with the Dolphins when they open their regular season Sept. 13 against the Redskins in Washington.
If he can accomplish that, Hull would be the first area player on an NFL roster since the Ringgold duo of Anthony Peterson and Scott Zolak played in the 1999 season. Peterson played six seasons with San Francisco and Chicago, while Zolak spent nine years in the NFL with New England, the Jets and Miami.
“I believe in my heart I can play at this level,” Hull said. “I know nothing will be handed to me, and that’s the way it should be. I keep reminding myself that it doesn’t matter where you start off; it matters where you end up.”