Michael Wiley (American football)

Michael Deshawn Wiley (born January 15, 1978) is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Ohio State University.

Early years[]

Wiley attended Monte Vista High School, where as a senior he ran for 1,901 yards and 23 touchdowns, en route to being named a high school All-America and ranking as the country's No. 2 running back prospect according to Bluechip Illustrated. He finished his high school career with 3,417 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns. He also practiced track and basketball.

He accepted a football scholarship from Ohio State University. Although he never played the position before, as a true freshman he appeared in 8 games as a backup wide receiver and was also a reserve at running back in 4 games, registering 23 carries for 176 yards and 6 receptions for 194 yards.^[1] He scored touchdowns the first three times he touched the ball as a collegian, while playing against Rice University in 1996 (a 49-yard reverse run and receptions of 51 and 60 yards).

As a sophomore, he had 588 rushing yards, a 5.6-yard average and 6 touchdowns. He also had a 26.6-yard average in kickoff returns, including a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Bowling Green State University. He rushed for 121 yards against the University of Wyoming and had an 8-yard touchdown pass against Indiana University.

As a junior, he earned the starter tailback job, rushing for 1,258 yards (second in the conference) on 198 carries for a 6.2-yard average and 10 touchdowns. He also had 26 receptions (third on the team) for 200 yards and 6 kickoffs returns for a 23.8-yard average. He had a 209-yard rushing performance (10th best in school history) in a win over the University of Missouri.^[2] The team finished 11-1 and beat Texas A&M University in the Sugar Bowl.

As a senior, he posted 183 carries for 952 rushing yards (led the team) and 10 touchdowns. He also completed all 5 of his passing attempts for 123 yards and one touchdown, while adding 14 catches (third on the team) for 153 yards and one touchdown. He was the team's all-purpose yardage leader with an average of 101.6 yards-per-game.

Though he was only a two-year starter (22 starts), he finished a distinguished playing career after recording 2,951 rushing yards (509 attempts), 3,176 total offense yards, 4,194 all-purpose yards, ten 100-yard games, 56 receptions and 35 touchdowns. He also completed 10-of-11 career passing attempts for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Professional career[]

Wiley was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round (144th overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft. Because of his versatility, he was selected with the plan of converting him into a slot wide receiver.^[3] The experiment didn't last long and he was named the third-string running back in the latter part of the season, after the release of Chris Warren.

In his second season, he was involved 30 times on third down and picked up a first down on 14 of those chances (46.7% conversion rate). He finished with 34 carries for 247 rushing yards (7.3 avg.) and 16 receptions for 99 yards and one touchdown.

During his NFL career, he battled with injuries at different times. In 2003, after the Cowboys hired new head coach Bill Parcells, Wiley missed valuable preseason time with a rotator cuff injury and was waived on August 25.^[4]

Personal life[]

Since his retirement from professional football, Wiley has been active in the Ohio Democratic Party. He also has two kids, a daughter, and a son.

References[]

External links[]

• Former OSU running back living his dream after NFL