MickKeeps Up

By Carolyn Van der Veen

If you ask an Englishman to explain the rules of football, he'llprobablybegintellingyou abouta black and whiteball thatis kicked intoa net. Soccer. Soccer, aswe know it, is called footballinall other countries outsideof NorthAmerica. Butitis American footballthatmakes Michael Mulcuck sounusual.

Michael (Mick) is the only player on the Liberty football team who learned how to play American footballinEngland. He was born inShropshire, England,where he began playing at 18. He became involved infootballafter he saw aposterat alocal shop thatwas looking for players

Mick doesn't fitinto the usual image of what an Englishman looks like.At 6'6" and 270 lbs. he looks morelikethe averageAmericanfootballplayer. But it's Mick's distinct accent that gives away his English heritage

Mick planned tostay in England and play football after he was recruited to play in the International League of American Football When the league collapsed, Coach George Brincato offered him afootball scholarshipat the UniversityCollegeof CapeBreton in Canada

When the footballprogram in Canada wascancelled after oneyear, Mick had several offers to stayin North America tocontinueplaying.

Dr. Albrecht, hiscoach, arranged forhim tovisit a number of colleges. He was offered a full football scholarshipto SouthernMethodistUniversityin Texas, which is aDivision 1-A school, butit was Libertythat attracted him.

"SMU is acompletely different schoolfromLiberty, butIdidn'twant to geton thewrong track. So far, I'm happy with my choice,"Mick said.

Football isbecoming more popular in England It wasn't through Liberty that Mick heard of Coach Rutigliano.

"I used towatch Coach Rutigliano on thetele(TV) coaching the Browns when I was back home in England, so it was a big thing tobe coached by him," Mick said

Mick hasdone wellon theteam and saw quitea bit