Mickey Pruitt (born January 10, 1965) is an American former 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, 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. The Super Bowl ring offers a collectible memento for the actual players and t ...

with the Cowboys in

Super Bowl XXVII Super Bowl XXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

over the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

Early life

Pruitt attended

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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

and

free safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the American football positions#Defense, defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two var ...

. He also played at

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. 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. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

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: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

, becoming a part of Bill McCartney's first recruiting class. He was named a starter (8 starts) at

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

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 In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

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 (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. 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

s and third in

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

history for

s. He registered 41 starts. In 1989, he was named to the University of Colorado All-Century football team and to the

All-Decade team.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Pruitt was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

by the

after the 1988 NFL draft. He was not selected because he was considered slow for a

and not big enough to be a

. As a rookie, he was converted into an

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

. 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

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

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Randall Cunningham. 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 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, 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 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

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

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 t ...

with a pulled left hamstring, but was re-activate on October 11. He appeared in 12 contests, starting at strongside linebacker in the twelfth game against the

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

, posting a single-game career-high 9 tackles. On September 1,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, 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

team. He was cut on August 29,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Philadelphia Eagles

On July 20,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

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

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