Ty Isaac (born October 16, 1994) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

. He played his freshman season for the 2013 USC Trojans before transferring to the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In high school, he played varsity for four years at

Joliet Catholic Academy Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet Catholic or JCA) is a coed Catholic high school in Joliet, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet. One of the oldest Catholic high schools in the Chicago area, Joliet Catholic is perhaps b ...

, helping the team to reach the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

(IHSA) Class 5A championship game twice. He was a member of the 2011 USA Today All-USA high school football team and 2013

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game wa ...

team. His 515-yard rushing performance in 2011 is an IHSA championship game record. As a junior, he was recognized as the 2011 ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' Football Player of the Year.

Early life

Isaac is the son of Tyrone Isaac who was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and 1,000-yard rusher for the IHSA state Class 5A champion 1987 Joliet Catholic Academy team. The younger Isaac served as the team ball boy and water boy in his youth. He began attending football summer camp at Joliet Catholic Academy in third grade. By the time he was a high school freshman, he shared the backfield duties for the IHSA state Class 5A runner up. As a sophomore, he endured an injury plagued season. Nonetheless, big things were expected of him as a junior. He was one of only 5

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

selections to the 2011

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Class of 2013 watch list. He was a 2011 USA Today All-USA high school football team selection as a junior and a 2013

selection as a senior for

. During his junior season, he rushed for 2,629 yards and 51 touchdowns, including a 515-yard, 6-touchdown effort in the 2011 IHSA Class 5A championship game against

Montini Catholic High School Montini Catholic High School (often shortened to Montini) is a co-educational, college preparatory, high school, run by the Christian Brothers in Lombard, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois. The schoo ...

. However, Isaac also lost two

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

s and threw an

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

in what turned out to be a 70–45 championship game loss. His 515 rushing yards in the IHSA Class 5A Championship game surpassed Alonzo Wise's 1997 210-yard Class 5A championship game record and Matt Perez' 2009 316-yard all class record. At the end of the season, he earned the 2011 ''Chicago Sun-Times'' Football Player of the Year award. The following spring, he committed to USC on May 15 after making several visits to USC, Michigan and Notre Dame. At the time

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ranked him as the number 68 player in the class of 2013. Michigan and USC were the two finalists. His senior season was impaired by injury. He endured a shoulder sprain and a groin injury that year but still managed to compile nearly 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns. He had intended to take his official visit on December 7, 2012 along with other early enrollees and begin classes on January 14, 2013, but did not end up enrolling early. His official visit marked his fourth visit to USC (all hosted by

Max Wittek Max Nolan Wittek (born July 31, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He played at USC from 2011 to 2013, and transferred to Hawaii, sitting out the 2014 season. Early life Born in Contra Costa County, California, Wittek grew up in N ...

College

USC

He matriculated to play for the

USC Trojans football The USC Trojans football program represents the University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...

team and debuted in the season opener for the 2013 Trojans on August 29, 2013 against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. His breakout game came on November 9, when starter Silas Redd left the game early against

Cal Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

and Isaac rushed for 87 yards and his first 2

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 on 11 carries. His 44-yard, 8-carry 2013 Las Vegas Bowl performance against

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, which included a 35-yard reception, was also considered a sign of his potential. For the season, he rushed for 236 yards on 40 carries and had 57 receiving yards.

Transfer to Michigan

He decided to transfer following his freshman season, and cited geographic distance from his ailing mother as his reason for wanting to return to the midwest. The leading contenders were Northwestern, Notre Dame,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and possibly Michigan. He was blocked from transferring to Notre Dame by USC. He selected Michigan. His request to play immediately for the 2014 Wolverines was denied by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

2015 season

Isaac debuted for Michigan on September 5, 2015, gaining 12 yards on four carries as a backup player in the season opener against

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. On September 19, 2015, Isaac posted a 76-yard run as part of a 114-yard (eight-carry) effort against

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

, which was the longest run by a Wolverine since

Denard Robinson Denard Xavier Robinson (born September 22, 1990) is an American former professional football player and a former staff member for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville University and the University of Michigan. He played four seasons as a runn ...

posted a 79-yard run against

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

on September 8, 2012 for the 2012 team. Following an injury to Michigan's top running back, De'Veon Smith, Isaac started against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

in Michigan's fifth game on October 3, 2015. After Isaac gained only 17 yards, fumbled twice, and drew a roughing-the-punter penalty in his first start, Mark Snyder of the ''

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'' wrote that Isaac "might not be reliable" and had been "strikingly unproductive." On October 5, 2015, Michigan announced that Isaac had dropped to a tie for third in Michigan's depth chart along with

Derrick Green Derrick Leon Green (born January 20, 1971) is an American musician best known as the vocalist of Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura. He joined the band in 1997 after the departure of band founder Max Cavalera. Early life Born in Cleveland, ...

, behind De'Veon Smith and Drake Johnson. After the Maryland game, Isaac's playing time dropped sharply, carrying the ball only twice against Northwestern and twice against Minnesota. On November 2, 2015, Michigan announced that Isaac was not on that week's depth chart. Head coach

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh ( ; born December 23, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at ...

said, "It's an internal matter." During the 2015 season, Isaac had 30 carries for 205 yards. He had no carries in the final six games of the season.

2016 season

During the 2016 season, Isaac rushed for 411 yards on 74 carries (5.6 yards per carry) and scored five rushing touchdowns, including a 53-yard touchdown run against Maryland. In the Wolverines' October 8 game against Rutgers, Isaac rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

2017 season

Isaac opened the 2017 season with a 114-yard effort on 11 carries against the 17th-ranked

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

on September 2. He followed that with a career-high performance of 133 yards on September 9 against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. After posting 109 yards, Isaac was injured on October 28 against

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

. 2022 Isaac received a masters degree from the University of Michigan.

Birmingham Iron

In 2018, Isaac signed with the Birmingham Iron of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...

for the 2019 season. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

Notes

External links

Michigan Wolverines bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac, Ty 1994 births Living people American football running backs Players of American football from Joliet, Illinois Under Armour All-American football players USC Trojans football players Michigan Wolverines football players Birmingham Iron players