Michael Allan Wells (born June 1, 1971) 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 with ...

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He was drafted out of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

in the fourth round of the

1994 NFL Draft The 1994 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, 1994, at the Marriott Mar ...

by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. He has also played for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

, and the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Early years

Wells attended Arnold (MO) Fox where he was a ''Parade'', ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' and ''Prep Report'' first-team All-American in 1988, as well as being named U''SA'' ''Today's'' all-sports Missouri state Athlete-of-the-Year, SuperPrep Midlands Defensive Player of the Year, and the

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

College Prospect of the Year. For his high school career, he recorded 411 tackles and nine fumble recoveries. He also won the state discus title as sophomore and senior.

College career

1989

Redshirted. He was the scout team defensive MVP vs.

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

1990

Wells started the final two regular season games and three total at nose guard. He was fourth among the down lineman with 48 tackles and tied for third on the team with 6 tackles for loss while helping the Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in rushing defense and total defense. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten.

1991

Wells played in eleven games and started seven at right tackle for a defensive unit that led the Big Ten in total defense. He was fourth on team in tackles and third in the conference with 11 sacks (second only to teammate Leroy Smith in sacks) for minus 60 yards and fifth in tackles for losses with 14 for minus 65 yards. He was named to sophomore All-America team by Football News.

1992

Wells set career highs in every significant defensive category except for sacks (9) as a redshirt junior. He was named 1st-Team All-Big Ten and was the co-winner of the Roy J. Carver MVP Award.

1993

Being named a team captain before the season, Wells was named an All-Big Ten first-team selection by the media for the second time and second-team by coaches. He started all twelve games at defensive tackle. With his monster season, he now holds Iowa's career records for tackles for loss (54-223) and QB sacks (33-190) while finishing with 309 career tackles and placing third on the team with 64 solo tackles and 37 assists for 101 total. He also recovered one fumble, broke up six passes, and returned an interception 28 yards in a win over

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He was the co-winner of the Roy J. Carver MVP Award for the second time.

Professional career

Despite being drafted in the fourth round, Wells was released by the

before the 1994 season began. He was quickly picked up by the

, where he played primarily as a backup until 1997, his last season with the team, where he started all sixteen games. He was signed as an unrestricted free agent that off-season by the

. He led the team in tackles in each of his three seasons with the squad. Despite this and the fact that he was willing to take a pay cut, he was released in favor of recent free-agent acquisitions

Ted Washington Theodore Washington Jr. (born April 13, 1968) is a former American football nose tackle. He was drafted out of Louisville by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He also played for the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bill ...

and

Keith Traylor Byron Keith Traylor (born September 3, 1969)"98 - Keith Traylor, DT."
' ...

. Wells later signed with the Indianapolis Colts, where he played for one season before deciding to retire.

Coaching career

After leaving the NFL, Wells returned home to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

where he now coaches the defensive line at

Parkway South High School Parkway South High School is a public comprehensive high school in Manchester, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Parkway School District. Since starting a renovation in 2010, the school has built a new science wing, has ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Mike 1971 births Living people American football defensive tackles Iowa Hawkeyes football players Detroit Lions players Chicago Bears players Indianapolis Colts players Players of American football from St. Louis People from Arnold, Missouri