Knights star rides off to Delaware State
In Hamilton high school football circles he was sometimes referred to as a generational player, and the statistical evidence supports that case.
Michael Chris-Ike, who spent five years in the St. Thomas More Knights colours, the first two as a junior player, begins spring practice on June 25 at Delaware State, where he has accepted a full football scholarship to play for the Hornets.
“They told me I could come in and compete for a spot right away, that they’re looking for new pieces,” the 19-year-old says. “They play a spread offence, which I like because it’s both running and catching. They said they like me because I’m tall, and I can catch.”
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound tailback was regarded among the top 25 high school players in the country in the fall of 2017 when he helped power the undefeated Knights to the No. 1 ranking of Canadian high school teams.
During the regular season, Chris-Ike scored an average of three touchdowns per and rushed for 220 yards, or 15 yards per carry. But it was in the four post-season games, including OFSAA’s Golden Horseshoe Bowl, that his numbers got really surreal: 275 yards rushing per game, and an average — an average — of five touchdowns per game. He totalled 1,700 all-purpose yards in that quartet of allon-the-line games.
“He has been able to maintain his dominance every year for five years since Grade 9,” says Knights head coach Claudio Silvestri. “He’s been such a special athlete.
The Knights won an OFSAA bowl game in each of Chris-Ike’s three senior seasons.
“Looking back, it was just a great high school run,” Chris-Ike says of the Knights, who went 20-1 the past two seasons. “Great
coaching, great teammates. We loved playing together, and we worked really hard for it.”
Chris-Ike had been heavily scouted by a number of Canadian universities but has always wanted to play in the NCAA.
Delaware State is an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly called AA) school, playing in the MidEastern Athletic Conference. The league has produced Hall of Fame Hamilton Tiger-Cat legend Joe Montford (South Carolina State), plus recent Ticats such as Stevie Baggs (Bethune-Cookman), Bryan Tims and Kevin Elliott (Florida A&M) and Dominique Ellis (South Carolina State), plus current Ticats defensive back Mariel Cooper (South Carolina State).
In November, Delaware State fired head coach Kenny Carter after his three-year tenure produced a miserable 3-30 record. In mid-January, the Hornets replaced him with alumnus Rod Milstead who went on to play in the NFL and start the majority of games at offensive guard for the 1995 Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.
Milstead confirmed to Mark Newman of the Hamilton News that Chris-Ike will immediately compete for playing time and will fit well into his team’s new offence.
Chris-Ike’s first college game will be close to home. Delaware State Hornets opens their schedule against the Bulls at the University of Buffalo on Sept. 1.