Mickey Pruitt

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Mickey Pruitt
No. 52
Position: Linebacker
Personal information
Date of birth: (1965-01-10) January 10, 1965 (age 60)
Place of birth: Bamberg, South Carolina
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Career information
High school: Paul Robeson (IL)
College: Colorado
Undrafted: 1988
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 62
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Mickey Pruitt (born January 10, 1965 in Bamberg, South Carolina) is a former professional American football player who played linebacker for five seasons for the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, and won a Super Bowl ring with the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVII over the Buffalo Bills.[1]

Early years

Pruitt attended Paul Robeson High School where his father George was an assistant football coach.[2] He played as a running back-free safety.

In his senior season, he rushed for over 1,000 yards, scored 18 touchdowns and made 7 interceptions. He was part of a team that had 14 of the 26 players playing both ways, while finishing second in the state of Illinois, the best showing ever by a Public League team.

He finished his high school career with more than 2,000 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns. He was named All-state once and All-city twice. He also practiced basketball.

College career

Pruitt accepted a scholarship from the University of Colorado, becoming a part of Bill McCartney's first recruiting class. He was named a starter (8 starts) at strong safety as a redshirt freshman and would not relinquish the position for the rest of his college career. The next year he posted 63 tackles, after missing two games because of injuries.

As a junior he registered 106 tackles (73 solo), 5 forced fumbles and 13 passes defensed (second in school history).

He finished ranked as school's all-time tackler (340 tackles) among defensive backs and third in Big Eight Conference history for defensive backs. He also registered 41 starts.

In 1989, he was named to the University of Colorado All-Century football team and to the Big Eight Conference All-Decade team.[3]

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Pruitt was not selected in the 1988 NFL Draft because he was considered slow for a defensive back and not big enough to be a linebacker. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chicago Bears.

As a rookie he was converted into an outside linebacker. He was a backup to Jim Morrissey and although he played mostly on special teams, he had a chance to start in 3 games. In the 20–12 playoff win against the Philadelphia Eagles, popularly known as the "The Fog Bowl" for the nearly unseeable conditions during the game, he made an important interception of quarterback Randall Cunningham.[4] Pruitt also received the Brian Piccolo Award, given annually to a Bears rookie and a veteran who best exemplify courage, loyalty, teamwork and dedication.

On November 14, 1990, he broke his left hand in a fight with teammate Mark Bortz during a practice, but didn't miss any games.[5] On August 26, 1991, he was waived after being passed on the depth chart by Mike Stonebreaker.[6]

Dallas Cowboys

On August 27, 1991, he was claimed off waivers by the Dallas Cowboys, to improve the linebackers depth and help on special teams.[7] On September 10, he was placed on the injured reserve list with a pulled left hamstring, but returned in October to play 12 games.[8]

He was released to make room for linebacker Bobby Abrams on September 1, 1992.[9] He was re-signed on November 18 and was a part of the winning team on Super Bowl XXVII. He was cut on August 29, 1993.[10]

Philadelphia Eagles

On July 20, 1994, he was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles.[11] He was released on August 23.[12]

Personal life

From 1995 to 1996, he was a football graduate assistant for the Colorado University. From 1997 to 1999, Pruitt joined the University of Hawaii Warriors football team as an assistant football coach.[13] In 1999, he was a part of the Chicago Bears player personnel department. In 2012, Pruitt became the director of the Chicago Bears Youth Football Camps.[14]

References

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External links

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