Mickey Pruitt (born January 10, 1965) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the Chicago Bears and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

, winning a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

with the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVII over the Buffalo Bills.

Early years

Pruitt attended

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's Paul Robeson High School, where his father George was an assistant football coach. He played as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

and free safety. He also played at wide receiver. In his senior season, he rushed for over 1,000 yards, scored 18

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s 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 Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

College career

Pruitt accepted a football scholarship from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

, becoming a part of

Bill McCartney William Paul McCartney (born August 22, 1940) is a former American football player and coach and the founder of the Promise Keepers men's ministry. He was the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder for thirteen seasons (1982–1994), ...

'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). As a senior, he set a school mark for tackles by a defensive back with 116. He had 5 interceptions, including one returned 18 yards for a key

in the 26–17 against

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

. Pruitt finished ranked as school's All-time tackler (340 tackles) among defensive backs and third in Big Eight Conference history for defensive backs. He 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.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Pruitt was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the Chicago Bears after the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Ma ...

. He was not selected because he was considered slow for a defensive back and not big enough to be a

. As a rookie, he was converted into an outside linebacker. He was a backup to Jim Morrissey, playing mostly on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

and on passing downs. He started in 3 games and suffered a sprained ankle that forced him to miss 2 contests. In the 20–12 playoff win against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

, popularly known as the " Fog Bowl" for the nearly unseeable conditions during the game, he made an important interception of

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Randall Cunningham Randall Wade Cunningham Sr. (born March 27, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles and is also known for ...

. 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 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, he broke his left hand in a fight with teammate Mark Bortz during a practice, but didn't miss any games. On August 26,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, he was waived after being passed on the depth chart by

Mike Stonebreaker Michael David Stonebreaker (born January 14, 1967) is a former professional American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons for the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. He was drafted in the ninth ...

Dallas Cowboys

On August 27,

, he was claimed off waivers by the

, to improve the

s depth and help on

. On September 10, he was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

with a pulled left hamstring, but was re-activate on October 11. He appeared in 12 contests, starting at

strongside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pla ...

in the twelfth game against the New York Giants, posting a single-game career-high 9 tackles. On September 1, 1992, he was released to make room for

Bobby Abrams. He was re-signed on November 18. He appeared in the last 6 games, registering 5

tackles. He was a part of the winning Super Bowl XXVII team. He was cut on August 29,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

Philadelphia Eagles

On July 20,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

. He was released on August 23.

Personal life

From 1995 to 1996, he was a football graduate assistant for the University of Colorado. From 1997 to 1999, Pruitt joined the University of Hawaii Warriors football team as an assistant football coach. 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.

References

External links

In Chicagoan Pruitt, Colorado Boasts A Really Strong Safety
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruitt, Mickey 1965 births Living people Players of American football from Chicago American football linebackers Colorado Buffaloes football players Chicago Bears players Dallas Cowboys players Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Dallas Cowboys scouts Brian Piccolo Award winners