SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – After playing in just two games last year, Utah running back Micah Bernard almost quit football, but he’s back for one more ride.
“I love the game, you know?” Bernard said after Monday’s practice. “I almost fell out of love with football, just losing it for such a long time. You just want to grind even harder just to come back.”
Bernard played in the first game last year against Florida, got injured, and didn’t return until the Las Vegas Bowl against Northwestern, where he scored the only touchdown of the game for the Utes. It was during that long layoff that he rediscovered his love for the game.
“A couple weeks after the injury, I was like, it’s actually gone,” Bernard said, thinking he had played his final football game. “I can’t do nothing. So probably like a couple of weeks to a month after, I was just like, ‘Man, I really missed this.’ I know it’s going to come to an end one day, but I hope it’s not any time soon.”
Bernard, who has a total of 1,208 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, to go along with 69 catches for 620 yards and three TD’s, will certainly be pushed by guys like Jaylon Glover and Mike Mitchell for playing time. But now in his sixth season, Bernard hopes he stays available from here on out.
“Micah has got the most reps, the most game experience,” said head coach Kyle Whittingham. “He’s a guy that has been in the heat of the battle and and has performed.”
“It’s great to have a group of guys in that room who are all experienced,” Bernard said. “We can all lean on each other and get better.”
With quarterback Cam Rising back along with a slew of talented receivers, the Utes offense may be more pass-oriented, but Bernard is OK with that, as long as the team wins.
“Most definitely it might be,” he said. “We’re adding new stuff in just for guys that we got because we got a lot of weapons now. So if we got to throw the ball, that’s what we’re going to do. If we got to run the ball because we got good backs, that’s what we’re going to do.”
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