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1st Rounder You’ve Never Heard of Series #1

Unless you are the most hardcore football fan/geek that ever lived, you’ve probably never heard of 1st round draft pick Mike Hull from USC.

Come on, be honest.

Mike Hull was a fullback and blocked for Heisman winners Mike Garrett and O.J. Simpson in 1965 and 1967. Simpson didn’t win the Heisman until 1968, but his lead blocker was Mike Hull in 1967 when the Trojans won the national championship.

Obviously, the USC Trojans were loaded with talent in those days with 5 guys going in the first round of the NFL Draft in 1968. Led by Pro Football Hall of Fame member and considered one of the greatest offensive tackles of all time, Ron Yary, who was the very first man taken in the draft. Their other offensive tackle, Mike Taylor, went with the 10th pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My favorite guy, Tim Rossovich, went with the 14th pick to the Eagles of Philly. Glass Eater

The subject of this post, Mike Hull, was next at 16th to the Chicago Bears. He was followed by the surprising Earl McCullough who was taken by the Detroit Lions with the 24th pick. I say surprising because of his incredible speed. McCullough had some wheels and speed is always really popular at every level and one would have thought he’d have gone earlier. McCullough did earn Offensive

Rookie of the Year awards, but his career really never took off after that.

There’s surprisingly a little bit of info about Mike Hull on Wikipedia. Who knows how accurate the information about people is on that site, but as a blogger that researches a lot, I have not found that many errors there.

Hull grew up in La Crescenta, California which is a place that I would have loved to have lived. It’s right on the edge of the San Gabriel Mountains with Glendale to the south. It’s big enough to have city things to do, and small enough and right on the edge of the wilderness for a guy like me that loves the mountains and the woods.

He didn’t even start playing football until he was 14 according to the article I read. He was also a back up offensive tackle. Junior high coaches are not exactly known for their eye for talent, but that’s neither here nor there.

In high school, he was moved to tight end and defensive end. But, by the time he was on the varsity, his coach had moved him to a back in the old single wing offense. You have to remember this was in the early 1960s and offenses were in the ancient mode as were the defenses designed to stop them. That was so long ago, that who knows if he was required to stop and do a dropkick.

In Mike Hull’s very first varsity game, he touched the ball for the first time on the opening kickoff and he returned it 88 yards for a touchdown. Then, on 10 carries he toted the ball for over 140 yards and a star was born.

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Well, the mighty Trojans of USC did want Mike Hull and he transferred there for his sophomore season.

Hull was a big strapping lad for the time, and he was moved to fullback which turned into a blessing in disguise for Hull.

Offenses today rarely feature a fullback, but the Trojans under head coach John McKay, were running the I-formation and the fullback was a large part of the offense as a blocker, as a runner and as a receiver out of the backfield. Mike Hull fit the position really well and he wasn’t going to start over a Mike Garrett and an O.J. Simpson at the tailback position, so get the best players on the field. Mike

Hull was one of the best players and needed to be on the field if not at tailback, somewhere else and fullback suited him.

In three seasons at USC, Hull ran for only 667 yards. His best season was his junior year when the Trojans lacked Garrett or Simpson and Hull was allowed to carry the ball 75 times and averaged 6.7 yards per carry while running for 502 yards. He was also the MVP of the USC – UCLA game that season when he ran for 147 yards on 14 carries.

His carries of 1966 came to a screeching halt with the arrival of the superstar in Rent-a-Car, OJ Simpson. OK, so you would have to be old to remember the Simpson Hertz rental car ads. Hertz can go ahead and send me a check for doing a plug for them here.

Garrett and Simpson’s presence was not really relevant and Mike Hull’s future was at fullback.

Taken with the 16th pick of the NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears in 1968, Hull had to experience the Brian Piccolo situation up close and personal. He was the blocking back for Gale Sayers, but in 1968 Sayers was out with an injury and Hull blocked for Piccolo.

Later, joining the Washington Redskins from a trade, Hull made a nice 7 year NFL career out of playing fullback. He also got to play in the Super Bowl for the Skins in a losing effort.

After football was over, Hull went to Georgetown to get his Law degree and he was successful as an attorney after that.

Now, come on and admit it. You have never heard of Mike Hull, have you? I’m sure Mike Hull isn’t that concerned, so step up.