His mother wanted him to have no distractions from his schoolwork and football, so the 6’3″ football player visited Catamount country and made it his home away from home. Michale Spicer, now a senior, has always had sports in his blood. He played basketball and ran track in high school, but we know him as the defensive end that dominates on the football field at Western Carolina University.
Eight games into the 2003 – 2004 football season, Spicer broke the school records for tackles for loss and sacks. He dedicated his achievements to the coaches for putting him in the position he is in, to the other team members for helping him make the plays, and to himself for being able to make the plays. He also feels privileged that all the coaches in the South voted him top SoCon defender based on his statistics from last year’s games.
This year he is a candidate for the SoCon and All-American Player of the Year; he will also contend for SoCon and national Defensive Player of the Year honors. Combined with fellow DE Nick McNeil, Spicer helps give the Catamounts one of the best defensive fronts in the SoCon.
As a child in Goldsboro, NC, Spicer was always outside playing some kind of sport; he explains that sports are “just natural.” In high school he was on the basketball team, ran track and played football. Since entering college, however, he has stuck with football, but he has not strayed far from the hard court, during the off-season he plays intramural basketball.
As a job, Spicer would like to be a high school counselor and a football coach, so he is studying Sociology. To help prepare himself for his future career, Spicer visits Smoky Mountain High School to talk to students about football and college. When Spicer is not practicing or molding young minds, he can be found in front of his TV playing video games.
Spicer wants to live up to how the media sees him as a person and a football player, but he has a different view on this. “I don’t play for the media; I play for the team.” Spicer may be the one getting national attention from NFL scouts, but he realizes he is not the only player being looked at when the scouts come to watch him play. He is glad to be able to help his teammates attract interest from teams at the next level.
His success also boosts Western’s recruiting efforts; with his name and the school’s mentioned in the media, high school students are picking up on the Catamount way. All the attention Spicer garners helps the team get tighter and play stronger with every game. He is on a team, and he plays with a team not individual players. Anything that happens to Spicer or any of the other players on the field happens to the whole team, and the players look after each other.
When asked to comment on the season, Spicer mentions that he and his teammates were upset about not being eligible to make the playoffs. He hopes they can learn from their mistakes and improve and play harder so that next season they can put a “W” next to the team’s name for each game.
“I speak for the team when I say that we appreciate the students and the fans a lot,” Spicer says, commenting on the fans that came out to the games. He says that the fan support helped the Cats get motivated to get out and play hard. Along with the fans, Spicer’s mother and family back home inspire him to stay with what he believes in and to follow his dreams.
