Gold Jacket Spotlight: Michael Irvin answered his own questions

In the NFL Films production, “Michael Irvin — My Road to Canton,” MICHAEL IRVIN shared the line of questioning he would ask himself during training sessions at which he reached the point of exhaustion and probed if he could push himself beyond that juncture.

“I would say,” Michael recalled, “Are you a Hall of Famer or not? Can you do it? Are you a Hall of Famer?”

The answers to his questions were solidified in 2007, when “The Playmaker” was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — a career revisited this week in the Gold Jacket Spotlight.

Michael’s diligent training and practice efforts were recognized by family, friends, coaches and teammates throughout his high school, collegiate and NFL playing career. 

As a teenager at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Michael was renowned for his desire to run to everyday destinations and to run late into the evening after games.

Dirk Williams, a friend of Michael’s, told NFL Films: “He would run to his girlfriend’s house in that football suit. Fully dressed — helmet, pads, everything.”

Michael’s brother Don offered: “He ran around that block with that weight jacket on. Friday night, after the game, running 1 or 2 o’clock at night. Running around that block. Running 110 sprints. He knew. He had a vision.”

As a University of Miami Hurricane, Michael’s energy was noted by then-assistant coach Butch Davis.

“People may not have understood what a terrific worker Michael was,” Davis said. “He was just a tireless practice player. He went out and would go 100 percent every single practice.” 

Hall of Famer JIMMY JOHNSON, Michael’s collegiate coach and later his head coach with the Dallas Cowboys, said, “I don’t know that I’ve ever had a player, a single player, that set the tempo for practices and had the passion for the game like Michael Irvin.”

During the NFL Films documentary, Cowboys owner and Pro Football Hall of Famer JERRY JONES recalled that Michael would, prior to practice, ask teammates who was going to outwork him that day.

“He’d walk out to that practice field,” Jones recalled. “His teammates would be laying there, stretching, and he’d point that finger across that whole group and say, ‘Who is it? Raise your hand today. Who is it that’s going to outwork me? I want to see him. Raise your hand now.’”

Michael’s self-assessment aided in creating his noted training and practice ethic when, in the documentary “Beyond the Glory — Michael Irvin,” he acknowledged, “I wasn’t the most talented guy, but I knew I would outwork everybody.”

On gameday, Michael was equally committed to an elevated level of performance and preferred to be in the middle of the action. 

“When it was third and long, opposition coaches knew exactly where Hall of Famer TROY AIKMAN was throwing the ball. The defensive backs knew exactly where Aikman was going with the ball. Everybody in the stadium knew where the ball was going but they couldn’t stop it,” Jones said.

Where was it going? Usually to Michael running a slant pattern.

“The slant was a route that most receivers did not want to run. Every third down and 7, and we’re running that slant, I would break the huddle and say, ‘Michael you run that slant or you go back to the ghetto,” offered Michael.

“That (the slant route) was his ticket out,” declared fellow Hall of Famer DEION SANDERS in the “My Road to Canton” production. “It wasn’t nothing else. Michael’s not a doctor or a lawyer. This was his ticket.”

That “ticket” resulted in 12 seasons and 159 regular-season games in an NFL career exclusively with the Cowboys. Michael totaled 750 receptions for 11,904 receiving yards and 65 touchdowns in those games. He compiled 87 receptions for 1,315 yards and eight TDs in 16 playoff games that included victories in Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX.

“I think every athlete wants to leave the game saying, ‘I played in the big games,’” Aikman observed. “Michael left the game being able to say that.”

Michael Irvin answered all the questions, including his own.