Michael Chris-Ike (born January 2, 1999) is a Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Delaware State Delaware State University (DSU or Del State) is a privately governed, state-assisted historically black land-grant research university in Dover, Delaware. DSU also has two satellite campuses: one in Wilmington and one in Georgetown. The un ...

Early life

Chris-Ike played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

. His senior year, he helped St. Thomas More earn a 10–0 record and become the No. 1 ranked high school football team in Canada. He rushed for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns in five regular season games. He then totaled over 1,700 all-purpose yards in four postseason games, including rushing for 336 yards and five touchdowns in the

OFSAA The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) is an organization of student-athletes, teacher-coaches, student-coaches, teachers, principals, and sport administrators in Ontario, Canada. OFSAA is the second largest high school ath ...

Golden Horseshoe Bowl.

College career

Chris-Ike played

for the

Delaware State Hornets The Delaware State Hornets are the eighteen sports teams representing Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country running, tennis, and track and field; women's- ...

from 2018 to 2023. He played in four games his freshman year, rushing for 238 yards and two touchdowns. He did not appear in any games in 2019 and was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

. The 2020 season was moved to spring 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Chris-Ike only appeared in two games during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. He played in 10 games in 2021, rushing for 262 yards and three touchdowns. He was also named an MEAC Academic All-Star that season. Chris-Ike rushed for 135 yards in three games in 2022, and 90 yards in 11 games in 2023.

Professional career

At the 2024

CFL Combine The CFL Combine (formerly known as the Evaluation Camp or E-Camp) is a three-day program in which athletes from Canadian universities and Canadians in the NCAA are scouted by general managers, coaches and scouts of the Canadian Football League ( ...

, Chris-Ike tied for first in the

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

(4.51 seconds) with

Ben Labrosse Benjamin Labrosse (born October 18, 1999) is a Canadian professional football defensive back for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Syracuse and U Sports football at McGill. Early life La ...

. Chris-Ike also finished first in the three-cone drill (6.71 s). After going undrafted in the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

, he attended rookie

minicamp A mini-camp, also spelled minicamp, is a short camp held by National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) teams usually in spring of each year. The camp usually only lasts 3 days, but the length varies by a day or two depending ...

on a tryout basis with both the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

. Chris-Ike was selected by the

in the second round, with the 14th overall pick, of the

2024 CFL draft The 2024 CFL national draft was a selection of national players by Canadian Football League teams that took place on April 30, 2024 at 8:00 pm ET. 74 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the c ...

. He officially signed with the team on May 13, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chris-Ike, Michael Living people 1999 births American football running backs Canadian football running backs Delaware State Hornets football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Players of American football from Ontario Players of Canadian football from Ontario Canadian football people from Hamilton, Ontario