MIKE FORD headed to USF!!!

[ChiTownBull]

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=376&p=8&c=1&nid=1311472

Pos: RB Pos Rank: #18 Pos Rating:      

Biography:

Mike Ford is one of the top running back prospects in Florida. Ford had a banner senior season. He was the leading rusher in the state of Florida (2,836) with thirty seven touchdowns, and was named Class 5A Player of the Year.

Scouting Report:

Everyone likes football players – guys that just know how to play and make it enjoyable when you watch them. Mike Ford is one of those guys. He never leaves the field. Whether it’s running the ball, defending the pass, or on special teams, Ford is always making plays. He averaged 120 yards a game last season and really went off on opposing defenses at the end of the season. Ford brings a lot of instincts, toughness, and competitiveness to the table. Oh, and speed too. On the track, Ford has been timed at sub 11.0 in the 100m. He’ll continue making plays this season and then someone will be getting a fast, instinctive, and productive back for the next level.

[Jake_Ryan]

AWESOME!

[AndytheBull]

Here is his rivals profile from last year when he was a Bama commit.  Hey Boys looks like we got a 5 STAR.  OH YEAH

http://www.usf.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=42920

1.WHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO 2. Anybody else think he'll be downgraded to a 3 star? lol 3. If I read that right, he's starting this semester, so he will be eligible for spring practice. 4. This is HUGE locally to get somebody of this caliber in the Sarasota area. and finally: about Alabama, hahaha.

[ChiTownBull]

Ford heads list of top picks

Sarasota's running back leads pack of 21 players who are sure to attract college scouts

BY ALAN DELL CORRESPONDENT

There is little doubt that this year's junior class is comprised of a bumper crop of football players who will have college scouts drooling next season. However, before we push the clock ahead, it's time to give this year's senior class its due.

The Herald-Tribune's Preseason Super Seniors has enough talent to attract the attention of college scouts throughout the country. Though there may not be as many "sure-shot" Division I-A prospects as in previous years, some of the talent is of very high quality.

Leading the pack is Sarasota High running back Mike Ford, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher, who is on every major college's radar screen. Behind what figures to be one of the area's best offensive lines, Ford should thrive as he shoots for the 3,000-yard plus career rushing mark.

Ford is one of five area players who appear certain to be signing high-level D-I scholarships next February. The other "Blue Chippers" are Venice nose guard Aaron Stahl, Lakewood Ranch offensive lineman Tyler Rice, Riverview running back C.J. Hamilton and Booker's Steve Fougerousse, a punishing fullback, who is worth the price of admission just to watch him barrel over defenders.

MIKE FORD, Sarasota

RB, 6-foot-2, 205 pounds

The area's top-rated senior rushed for 1,000-plus yards as a sophomore at Riverview High and again last year with the Sailors. Ford has it all: size, speed, quickness, natural instincts and good field vision. He runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and is being courted by all the major programs in the country. Among area returnees, he leads in yards per carry, averaging 6.9 per attempt. He is a perfect fit for Sailors, who like to feature the tailback in their I formation and Ford is athletic enough to catch passes passes out of the backfield. Scored 84 points with 14 TDs last season.

http://www.newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040827/SPORTS/408270469/1006

[ChiTownBull]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040925/SPORTS/409250394/1006

Before Sarasota High's football game Friday night against Cypress Lake, Sailor running back Mike Ford and his offensive linemen discussed breaking the record.

The single-game school rushing record of 359 yards, held by Herb Haygood.

Ford and his mates didn't accomplish their goal. But who wouldn't gleefully take 251 yards and four touchdowns?

Coming off his 279-yard, two-touchdown performance against Riverview, Ford carried the load again in leading the Sailors to a 46-14 win over the Panthers at Cleland Stadium at Ihrig Field.

Ford scored on runs of 23, 32, 36 and 8 yards. Fellow back Million Murray added a 1-yard TD, quarterback Steve Karwatt threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Chad O'Connor and defensive back Austin Guidry returned an interception 53 yards for another score.

This was a potentially dangerous sandwich game for the 2-1 Sailors, a week after their victory over Riverview and a week before a matchup with Venice High.

But Ford made sure the Sailors wouldn't suffer a letdown. By his third carry of the game, he had rushed for 74 yards and his two TDs had the Sailors in front 12-0 with two botched PATs.

"He's phenomenal,'' said Sailor coach Bob Perkins, "some of the things he's shown in the last couple of weeks. It's Mike getting comfortable in the tailback position, standing up. Each practice he's developing into a great I-back.''

Perhaps Ford's greatest run was on his 8-yard score, when he headed left, into a wave of Panther tacklers, stayed on his feet, reversed right and ran uncontested into the end zone.

The score put the Sailors up 39-14 late in the third, but the shot at Haygood's record had passed. In time, Ford was removed from the game

[usfinthere]

Here are some old clips that I found through a google search.  I think it might be his junior yr in hs.

http://media.putfile.com/Mike-Ford

[ChiTownBull]

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041113/SPORTS01/411130488/1075

Sarasota chews up Lely 38-16 in 5A-3

By Deron Snyder

dsnyder@news-press.com

Published by news-press.com on November 13, 2004

RELATED ARTICLES

Wave remains alive in 4A

SARASOTA  Size, speed, strength and shiftiness. That's what Sarasota High tailback Mike Ford brings to the table, and he always eats until he's full. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior feasted Friday night on Lely, wolfing down 370 yards for five touchdowns, and ending the Trojans' season.

"He's a freight train," said Sarasota coach Bob Perkins, after the Sailors' 38-16 victory in a Region 5A-3 quarterfinal. "Either he stiff-arms you or he drops the shoulder. Now he's added the hurdle to his repertoire. He's a phenomenal back."

Ford broke out the track and field move on his final scoring run of the evening, a 49-yard effort down the left sideline. He leapt over a would-be tackler at the 30, exhibiting near-Olympic form. The touchdown put Sarasota (9-1) up 38-10, and gave him 310 yards with 9:12 remaining in the game. But Ford wasn't done, returning to the field on the Sailors' next two possessions, and carrying seven more times.

"You get a limited number of opportunities for certain personal accomplishments," said Perkins, who said the offensive line helped persuade him to let Ford break the school's single-game rushing record of 355 yards. "It's a personal accomplishment but it's a team accomplishment, too."

"Ford just wore on us," Lely coach Chris Metzger said. "He's a big back and there's a reason he's being offered (scholarships) by everyone in the country. And their offensive line is monstrous.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041113/SPORTS/411130515/1006

Sarasota High tailback Mike Ford became the school's all-time leading rusher as he ran for a school- record 368 yards and five touchdowns in the Sailors' 38-16 victory over visiting Naples Lely in the Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinals Friday night at Cleland Stadium at Ihrig Field.

Ford, who surpassed Herb Haygood's single-season rushing record of 1,717 with a 250-yard performance against Palmetto two weeks ago, broke Haygood's former single-game record of 359 yards with a 40-yard carry about midway through the second quarter. Ford has a school-record 3,459 rushing yards in two years as a Sailor.

Following the game, Ford said that Haygood gave him the blessing to eclipse his records. Haygood, who went on to be an All-America kick returner at Michigan State and the Denver Broncos' fifth-round draft pick in 2002, attended the Sailors' regular-season finale against Booker last week.

"(Haygood) wanted me to beat his records," Ford said. "When he found out that I was going for it and trying to beat it, he told me 'go ahead and work hard for it.'"

Ford eclipsed the 300-yard mark for the game with a 49-yard touchdown run that gave the Sailors a 38-10 lead with 9:15 left. On the touchdown, Ford hurdled a defender at the Lely 31 and maintained his stride to the end zone.

Sarasota head coach Bob Perkins let Ford go for the single-game rushing record on the Sailors' final series.

"You get limited opportunities at certain personal accomplishments. The kids worked hard as team, and we've got great accomplishments as a team," Perkins said. "This is an individual accomplishment, but the team shares in that accomplishment. The records that Mike has set are team accomplishments. Even though Mike's name goes on there, they know that it's going to say 2004, and they can say 'I was a lineman on that team.'"

[ChiTownBull]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041116/SPORTS/411160572/1006

Running start

By CHRIS ANDERSON

chris.anderson@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA - Robert Ford never cooked meals because he couldn't read directions.

He paid cash for everything because he couldn't keep a checkbook. He never applied for jobs that required paperwork because he couldn't write reports.

He drove his car like a sailor lost at sea because he couldn't understand street signs. He navigated roads by recognizing trees, storefronts or the colors of parked cars.

He worked odd jobs, building ladders, roofing, cleaning swimming pools, and in 1990 he landed employment at USF in Sarasota as caretaker of the athletic facilities.

The students immediately liked him. He was pleasant and funny and genuine. Some found out he couldn't read very well and offered to tutor him.

He was skeptical at first. He thought they'd laugh at him, like they did when he was in school, only they didn't. They helped him, and before anyone knew it his reading skills had noticeably improved.

In 1998, he joined the Literacy Council, an organization that helps adults read. He's been an enthusiastic member for six years and is tutored twice a week.

Now he reads anything and everything. Now he reads well. He likes history, stories about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. He enjoys the Bible, too.

His youngest son, Mike Ford, is a senior at Sarasota High and quite possibly the best running back in the state.

Depending on his grades and test scores, Mike Ford will have his pick of college scholarship offers.

His 44-year-old father has a surprise for him: wherever Mike Ford goes to play college football, Robert Ford plans on moving to that town so he can watch him play.

His reading skills and confidence have improved so much that he feels he can land a quality job anywhere in the country.

"Like I told Mike, 'You can be good, but you can also be good for nothing,'" Robert Ford said. "I think I was good for nothing. But I'm something now."

You can hear him coming

Mike Ford usually laughs as he approaches defenders. It's like the sound of a train whistle. Get out of the way or get run over.

Contact makes him laugh. Contact always did.

"My mom (Dondra) said I would run into walls when I was a baby and get up laughing and do it again,'' he said.

"When we were wrestling, he'd run into me and I'd brush him off with a forearm,'' Robert Ford said. "He'd laugh and come at me again.''

Mike Ford has it all: moves, balance, speed, instinct. But. . . ct. But what makes him the best running back in the area, possibly in the state, is his punishing style.

Sometimes you can actually hear him laughing from the sideline.

"He does nothing but chuckle when he gets ready to hit somebody or run somebody over,'' Sarasota coach Bob Perkins said.

"That may be the only key to know whether he's going to stiff-arm you or run you over. He's laughing when he's going to run you over. If he stiff-arms you it's quiet, like a cobra strike.''

His season has already been something special. He has rushed for 2,384 yards, which is a school record for a single season.

He also has 3,459 yards in two seasons at Sarasota, which is another school record for career yards. Ford transferred from Riverview after gaining 1,200 yards his sophomore year.

On Friday night, Ford set another Sarasota record with 368 yards against Naples Lely, eclipsing the previous mark set by Herb Haygood in 1996.

He now has a ridiculous streak of nine straight games with at least 200 yards rushing. The state record is believed to be 14 straight set by Frostproof's Travis Henry, now a running back with the Buffalo Bills.

That record is out of reach, however. The Sailors have four possible games remaining. Ford would fall one game short if he continued to amass 200-yard games.

Because Ford is so physical, Perkins estimates he has gained at least 300 yards using his stiff-arm technique and 400 yards just from lowering his shoulder and running through defenders.

"If he has the option of turning out of bounds or lowering his shoulder, he'll lower his shoulder 90 percent of the time,'' Perkins said.

He has developed a sense of when to use the stiff-arm, and he uses it well. It's powerful and extremely quick.

He has become so adept at it that he has been called for only one facemask penalty this season.

Ford thinks he learned the skill from boxing lessons a few years ago. He would punch the air with weights in his hands.

In addition to hearing his laugh, it's easy to tell when Ford is about to run over a defender. Just look at the defender's eyes. They tend to get real big.

"When I see that I think, 'I'm going to win this battle,'" he said.

It's also easy to tell when Ford is running someone over by the sound of the contact.

"It sounds like a gunshot, something like that,'' Ford said. "If my ears are ringing I know it's a good hit. And I know . . . 're hearing it, too.''

Mike Ford was always active growing up, always loved contact, and was usually dealing with pain of some sort.

He began playing football at 4. A short time later he thought he was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. He liked to wrestle with his dad.

And his mother was always taking him to the emergency room, it seemed. There was the time the long nail stuck in his heel and the time he nearly lost a finger while fishing.

When he was about 5, he almost drowned off Lido Beach. He wasn't breathing when someone pulled him out of the water.

And just like when he was little, he still likes to get a running start and jump into his bed. But the other night he missed the bed and hit the floor very hard.

He started laughing, of course.

Then he got up and did it again.

Turning the page

Robert Ford grew up near Quincy in the Panhandle. By 6 he was working in the tobacco fields.

He would haul the tobacco plants to workers who stacked them high in wagons pulled by mules. The work made him so strong that he would later become a standout wrestler.

In 1971, when he was 11, his mother died and the family moved to Sarasota.

By 1978, Robert Ford was a varsity wrestler for Sarasota High in the 167-pound division as a senior.

He lost a few matches his senior season by forfeit because he slammed guys too hard onto the mat. They used to call him "Bulldozer."

He went on the wrestle at Central State in Dayton, Ohio, but stayed less than a year.

School wasn't for him. School was too painful. What if the instructor called on him? Worse yet, what if he had to stand before everyone in one of those Wal-Mart-sized classrooms?

As a child he seemed to keep up with the other kids. By the time he was a sophomore at Sarasota in 1976, however, his reading skills were "the lowest you could get.''

"In 10th grade I could read a little bit to get by, but not good,'' he said. "I didn't want to study and I'd sit in the back of the classroom and didn't want to be called on.''

He earned just two credits his sophomore year. He earned three his junior year. By then he should have had 10.

He needed 15 overall credits to graduate. He had five going into his senior year. His wrestling coach would often come to his house and drag him to school. He also stayed after school quite a bit. Somehow, he graduated.

He received his diploma on time, but didn't . . k with his class. He was too shy.

A person who could bench press 610 pounds at age 21, was also too shy to have his senior picture taken.

He is 44 years old now and weighs 350 pounds. He strongly resembles Warren Sapp, though his personality is far more pleasant.

He has been separated from Mike's mother, a former basketball player at Booker, for about 17 years, but still keeps in close contact with Mike and attends all his games.

He will sometimes stand on the sidelines, catch his son's eye and thump his chest. He also gives him pointers during the game . . . and after the game.

He was a star once, too.

He has seen too many high school players think they will go onto professional careers, when in truth very few ever do. And if they don't have something to fall back on …

"Now you're on the sidelines with me," Robert Ford said. "You didn't listen.

"If I could turn back the hands of time I'd start over in 10th grade and just work on books. Try to become a lawyer or something. A fireman, anything.

"You got to have something to fall back on. I had nothing to fall back on.

"Good jobs I couldn't get because I was scared of the paperwork. Especially like a policeman or fireman, I didn't know how to write a report.''

He is asked how he thinks his life would have been different had he learned to read better at an earlier age.

"I'd have a nice home and probably still have my family,'' he said.

But maybe it's not too late. Maybe Mike Ford lands a football scholarship. Maybe Robert Ford lands a job. Maybe they land together in a town somewhere, a university town.

"Wherever he goes, that's where I'm headed," Robert Ford said. "I'm going to be there."

And wouldn't that be something? A son in college, and a father turning another page.

Pic of Mike form Sarasota Herald Tribune

[CoolBullsFan]

If Ford can play next year and is mentally ready, we may very well win the Big East, especially since Jenkins is staying.

[E.T.]

With the year at Hargrave ... BULLieve he will start and star in 2007 !

Think the Spring Game will have more in attendance ... better get those season tix  8-)