I Heart Hart

I don't normally get into human interest stories in the college football context, but this profile on Mike Hart is outstanding. Every so often, a player comes along who, in addition to being a great player, seems like a really good guy off the field. (David Pollack would seem to be the equivalent for Georgia.) Hart has always appealed to me above and beyond the normal "good player for Michigan" levels, partially because of his hard-ass running style, partially because he doesn't look that athletic (and thus I can relate), partially because I saw his first career carry live (and immediately proclaimed that he was the best running back on the team, not that this was a major news flash), and partially because he seemed like the leader of the offense from a fairly young age. Michigan has been lucky in that the leadership of the offense for the past several years has been in the hands of Braylon Edwards and Hart, two guys who seem to be great, rootable guys. I won't lie; I'd probably root for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if he could run for 250 yards against Ohio State. However, it's still a nice perk to root for a back who has good grades and a tattoo of his deceased baby sister on his arm.