Friday, March 29, 2024

SOUNDBITES: MSU football players reflect on their experience of playing with Mylan Hicks

<p>Then-senior linebacker Mylan Hicks celebrates a tackle during the game against Oregon on Sept. 6, 2014, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. The Spartans lost to the Ducks, 46-27. Julia Nagy/The State News</p>

Then-senior linebacker Mylan Hicks celebrates a tackle during the game against Oregon on Sept. 6, 2014, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. The Spartans lost to the Ducks, 46-27. Julia Nagy/The State News

Photo by Julia Nagy | The State News

This weekend's game against Indiana University will have an added meaning for the Spartans, as they will honor former linebacker Mylan Hicks, who was killed in a shooting Sunday morning in Calgary, where he played professionally. 

The team will wear black socks and shoes, as Dantonio said Hicks loved the black Spartan gear. They will also have the number six on the back of their helmets as a reminder of Hicks. 

Here are a few of the 41 players who took the field with Hicks during the course of their Spartan careers, and what he meant to them personally, to the team and a few favorite memories they had of him.

Senior tight end Josiah Price

“It’s tough, man. It’s still so fresh and so new, but Mylan was just such a dog. He came to practice each and every day. He worked his tail off, one of the toughest guys you’ll ever know. I remember, I still remember one of the games, I think it was Nebraska a couple years ago in Spartan Stadium. He came off the field, his contact was messed up and he was trying to figure out how to get his contact in. Our trainer was like, ‘What’s up with your arm, what’s up with your arm,’ and he actually fractured his forearm that game, but he didn’t even care about the pain in his forearm. He wanted to go back out in the game and just wanted the contact to get in his eye. And that shows you the kind of competitor and then how much Mylan put in this program. Just an amazing player, amazing person and it’s really hard to deal with it. This game (against Indiana) has got a little extra meaning in it.”

Junior linebacker Chris Frey

“Mylan was my roommate my freshman year during camp. A lot of people don't know the impact that he had on my life. He was a very dear friend of mine, even though we didn’t really talk as much as he did to other guys, every time he was back here he would always come up to me and say, ‘Hey you’re doing great’ or ‘You’re doing this or you’re doing that and you have a future in football, keep ballin' keep doing you.’ He always had faith in me. He’s an unbelievable person, and he not only taught me, well, coming out of high school I was who I am today, but he added another step to that. My freshman year I played behind him, I watched him as he took over, played a lot in that STAR position. He took everything at 100 miles an hour. He played 100 miles an hour. It was always balls to the wall, and that’s what I try and do to just be like him in everything that I do.”

Fifth-year senior quarterback Tyler O‘Connor

“Our first team meeting (following Wisconsin), we came in and Coach D didn’t have one thing to say about football, and that’s just how, goes to show how much family and love and care is meant around this program. It definitely takes a toll on us, but at the same time it gives us something to play for. We know how Mylan is, Mylan’s always 100 miles an hour and we just have to go out there and play and compete and just keep playing football."

Fifth-year senior safety Demetrious Cox

“He was just always a guy that was just turnt up, just always. Whatever he was doing he was passionate about it and having fun, smiling. On the field he had a lot of grit about him, just a guy that was passionate about everything.”

Junior safety Montae Nicholson

“Mylan was one of the most energetic guys on our team and he brought life to our team. He was so hype, but he also was very caring, you know he gave his senior speech, if anybody needed something, you ask him. And nine times out of 10, more times than not, he would do it. He was that type of guy, and that’s what I remember from him, even though it was a short time that I had with him. He was definitely one of the guys I looked up to, and I tailor the way I play off him, running around with so much energy, so physical.”

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “SOUNDBITES: MSU football players reflect on their experience of playing with Mylan Hicks ” on social media.