Canon-Mac grad making a splash in Miami
Miami linebacker Mike Hull became the first player from Washington and Greene counties to open the season on a 53-man roster since 1999, when Ringgold’s Anthony Peterson and Scott Zolak were in the NFL.
Dolphins linebacker Mike Hull, a 2010 graduate of Canon-McMillan High School, has been a special teams standout this season. His three special-teams tackles rank second on the team.
Ask first-year Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase about linebacker Mike Hull and you can hear the youthful exuberance in his voice as he talks about the undersized linebacker.
Gase knows a little something about making it as a long shot. The NFL’s youngest head coach at just 38, Gase quickly worked his way up the coaching ranks.
Though he wasn’t part of the Miami coaching staff that brought Hull to the Dolphins last year as an undrafted rookie out of Penn State, Gase knows a determined overachiever when he sees one.
“I think he has whatever ‘it’ is, as far as pure guts and determination,” Gase said of the 6-0, 233-pound Hull, a Canonsburg native.
“All of the things that people say – you’re too small; you’re not fast enough – they give you all the negatives, but he keeps making plays.”
Hull hopes to put that on display today when he gets the opportunity to play against his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, at Hard Rock Stadium. Thwe Canon-McMillan High School graduate will face the Steelers (4-1) for the first time in his young NFL career.
“This is going to be a pretty cool situation,” said Hull, who is considered a first-year player after spending part of last season on Miami’s practice squad and part on the 53-man roster.
“I know a few of their guys. I worked out with them in the offseason, so there’s that. But I’m a Western PA kid and I grew up rooting for the Steelers, so to get to play against them, that’s awesome.”
Hull worked out with former Penn State teammate and current Steelers tight end Jesse James, left tackle Alejandro Villanueva and guard David DeCastro during the offseason at Evolution Sports Institute in Bridgeville, focusing on his speed and strength.
He put those skills on display in the preseason as Gase – Hull’s third coach in just one year after Washington & Jefferson graduate Joe Philbin was replaced early last season by interim coach Dan Campbell – moved him from weakside to strongside linebacker. Hull responded with 27 preseason tackles, the second-best total in the league.
“They moved me to the Mike (middle linebacker) position at the start of camp and I was doing really well throughout camp and the preseason,” Hull said. “I knew I was going to get a shot.”
It’s the same position at which he starred at Penn State, winning the Butkus Award his final season as the Big Ten’s top linebacker.
Hull is a core special teams player for the Dolphins, but showing a new coaching staff he also could be productive in a defensive role was important.
He has three special-teams tackles, the second-best total on the team, and has appeared in 93 plays already this season, not only covering kicks and punts but as a blocker as well.
“He’s not afraid to pull the trigger,” Gase said. “We talk about all the time of guys selling out and playing every play as hard as they can, and he does that. That’s why he does have success in his role and what we do – whether it be special teams or defense – because he sells out.
“He’s not afraid. If he misses a tackle, he misses a tackle; but he’s going 1,000 miles an hour to make sure he’s putting himself out there. He’s not going to pull back, because he’s like, ‘I’m not really sure if I can make this play.’ He just goes, and he tries to make a play.”
Hull is the first graduate from a high school in Washington or Greene counties to open a season on a 53-man roster in the NFL since former Ringgold’s Anthony Peterson and Scott Zolak in 1999. Though he is yet to play a defensive snap this season, Hull is comfortable with his role, at least for now.
Though the Dolphins are off to a slow start, Hull said the new coaching staff has been positive.
“I think everyone loves the coaching staff,” Hull said. “I think they’re doing a great job and now it’s our time as players to buy in. We have a lot of talent on this roster. I think over time it’s going to work.”
Hull got his first experience with Miami’s biggest weather issue last week when Hurricane Matthew just missed a direct hit on the area. It was different for a guy who’s accustomed to dealing with snow, not the possibility of being evacuated out of his home because of rain and flooding.
“Luckily, it missed us, for the most part, but we still got a lot of rain,” Hull said. “We couldn’t practice on Thursday like we normally would. But when you’re a professional, you have to be ready, regardless of the circumstances.”
That’s one of the things about Hull that impresses Gase. The young linebacker is always prepared, regardless of what is being asked of him.
“He’s a special-teams guy (but) he knows what the other team does,” Gase said “He basically wins a lot of times with his mind and then puts his body in position and makes a play.”