Hull Playing Dual Roles at Ashland
October 7, 2002

By Joe Monaco, AU Sports Information

In Hollywood, actors are becoming extremely versatile with every role they play. Television stars are jumping to bigger roles on the silver screen. Movie stars are showcasing their talents as pop artists while musicians and athletes are becoming tomorrow’s newest movie stars.

Ashland University is not exactly Hollywood, but more like Hull-ywood.

Sophomore Mike Hull (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) has been portraying dual roles since his arrival on campus. He is the one of the football team’s most dependable receivers, and also roams the outfield at Sarver Field for the Ashland University baseball team.

“I think one of the biggest challenges was coming in as a freshman was learning how to handle everything and balance my schedule between the two coaches. It was hard to set my schedule and guidelines for how I was going to be able to handle both sports. Communication between both coaches and teammates was extremely important,” Hull said.

As a freshman, Hull got a little bit of experience playing both sports. In football, he played in nine games and caught 10 passes for 133 yards. On the diamond, he collected one hit in two plate appearances for the Eagles’ varsity team, but saw the majority of his playing time on the junior varsity squad where he batted .214 with seven runs scored, seven stolen bases and three runs batted in.

“At times, it can be a controversy with both sports because not playing baseball during fall season games or football during spring practices. It’s a challenge to make sure that I learn all through both seasons and not just one sport at a time,” Hull added.

This season, Hull got the opportunity to be named a starter for the football team after an offseason medical condition sidelined sophomore wide receiver John Hall.

“Coming into this season, I thought that we were going to have a pretty experienced core of receivers with Kevin (McMahon), J.C. and myself. When I learned about J.C.’s spinal injury, I really felt for him because we were really looking forward to this season. With our receivers and John (Szabo), I really thought that it was going to make our passing game stronger. When we lost J.C., it was a huge blow to the team,” Hull explained.

“Going into the season, we really expected Mike to do well. He played as a true freshman and was a contributor. He has really stepped up, especially after the late season loss to J.C. Hall going into camp. He has really handled the role well, and if there is one thing to say about Mike, it’s that he is consistent play in and play out,” said offensive coordinator Matt Hohman.

Hull has made the most of the opportunity as he currently leads the Eagles with 30 catches and is second in yards with 353 and one touchdown. Last week, he helped propel Ashland to its first win of the season against Wayne State where he caught four passes for 101 yards. He is ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in receptions per game (5.0).

“Every time I have an opportunity to get into the game or make a play, it’s another opportunity for me to improve. It was also important to know that after the first game or two that the coaches had confidence in myself and the passing game, which helped me develop. I feel that it gave me something to build on, and I feel that there is still a lot more to learn.”

Improvement has been the biggest key to Hull’s success this season. His ability to make strides during every snap in every practice and game has made a positive impression with his coaches.

“Mike is that guy who is sort of the tortoise and the hare. He is that guy who is going to make steady, steady, steady progress and continually get better. He’s not the type of player who will ‘Wow’ you one day and let you down the next. He continues to play steady and get better every practice,” said Hohman.

After recording their first win of the season last week, Hull believes that the team still has an opportunity to put together some victories and salvage the season.

“We have a lot of younger guys playing right now so as they continue to grow and develop, I think that we’ll be in a good position to be successful. I think that we need to go out there and play with confidence. The struggles with losing a few games in a row are that it has a tendency to snowball. The biggest challenge for this team is to stop this snowball and regain our confidence and know that we can be successful,” Hull explained.

Hull and the rest of the Eagles will be looking for a Hollywood ending to their season.