Mike Utley

Mike Utley

Mike Utley in Detroit on May 16, 2014
No. 60
Position:	Guard
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1965-12-20) December 20, 1965 (age 51)
Place of birth:	Seattle, Washington
Height:	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight:	288 lb (131 kg)
Career information
High school:	Burien (WA) Kennedy Catholic
College:	Washington State
NFL Draft:	1989 / Round: 3 / Pick: 59
Career history
Detroit Lions (1989–1991)
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-American (1988) Walter Camp Man of the Year (2006)
Career NFL statistics
Games Played: 32 Games Started: 17

Michael Gerard Utley (born December 20, 1965) is a former American football player. He played for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League from 1989 through 1991, when he was paralyzed during a game.

A graduate of Kennedy Catholic High School near Seattle, Utley attended Washington State University and was part of the Cougars team which triumphed at the 1988 Aloha Bowl, Washington State's first bowl victory since the 1916 Rose Bowl. He was also named MVP. That season he earned consensus All-American honors, only the second Cougar to do so. In 2004 Utley was elected into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Utley was an offensive lineman with the Detroit Lions, picked in the third round of the 1989 NFL Draft. In his rookie year, Utley became the starting right guard for the Lions. He started the first five games, but was injured in the fifth game against the Minnesota Vikings. Utley was put on injured reserve for the rest of the year. In his second year, he fractured two ribs in the third preseason game. He was sidelined for the last preseason game and the first three regular season games. Utley came off the bench by playing in the second half of the next two games. He started in the sixth game, but dislocated his shoulder in the 3rd quarter. He finished the season playing only in the 2nd half for the rest of the season.