Replacing a man with the nickname “Beast Mode” is never an easy task, but former A&M running back Christine Michael is trying to do just that.
Last year, in spell for Marshawn Lynch, second year running back Thomas Rawls burst onto the scene piling up the yards and helped the Seahawks offense not miss a beat after the season ending injury Lynch suffered. Rawls, however, broke his ankle at the end of last season and required surgery that sidelined him for the season and has kept him out of preseason action so far.
Enter Christine Michael, who is in his second stint with the Seahawks after a short run with the Dallas Cowboys a year ago in which he only played 5 games before being released. Michael was handed the starting role in the backfield after the injuries to Rawls and Lynch and proved his worth by providing a spark in the running game for the injury filled Seahawks.
Fast-forward to the 2016 pre-season, after signing a 1 year contract with the Seahawks, Michael enters the pre-season once again as the starting running back. Though many speculated that it would be a short run at the top for Michael until Thomas Rawls was fully healthy and ready to go, Michael has different ideas for his role and has gone through what has been called an “awakening” by the Seattle coaching staff, it now looks like he is ready to become the workhorse he was once predicted to evolve into.
Seattle head coach Pete Carroll has full faith in Michael being able to fit perfectly with Rawls in the offensive scheme as a perfect one-two punch. Carroll boasts about Michael’s new found fundamentally sound running style and the way he is mentally grown up from his first stint with Seattle.
Everyone expects Thomas Rawls to come back from his injury and immediately take his starting spot back, and while that may be the case, Michael has certainly made it a battle and may even end up splitting the carries for Seattle’s offense this upcoming season, making their backfield one of the scariest in the NFC.
