The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 117 yards and two touchdowns, in- cluding a 49-yard first-quarter score and the game-winner, a 15-yard TD reception to snap a 31-31 tie in the fourth quarter. McGee's effort stood MVP worthy … had it not been for Wheatley run- ning wild for 235 yards and three touchdowns on only 15 carries, in- cluding an 88-yard TD sprint. To this day, McGee smiles over the unbe- lievable afternoon in Pasadena, and the juxtaposition of huge efforts. "Honestly? I was pissed that Tyrone got three touchdowns, or I'd have gotten the MVP," McGee quipped. McGee did post the sort of sea- son that confirmed what the scouts sought, and the Cincinnati Bengals took him in round two of the NFL Draft, with the 37th pick overall. He went on to perform in nine seasons with the Bengals, one more with the Dallas Cowboys and then a partial campaign split between the Cow- boys and the New York Giants prior to hanging up the cleats in 2003. That pro skein far outstripped the average stay in the NFL by more than seven years. Part of that can be chalked up to good fortune, but not all of it, McGee pointed out. "A big part of the longevity for me was preparation," he said. "That's something we did learn at Michigan — preparing, out-working, the flex- ibility, the strength, the speed and all of those things. You take those practices, that mindset and that atti- tude, and you translate it over to the NFL, it gives you the opportunity to be successful. "You have to take it to another level, and you also have to under- stand the NFL is a business. You have to play it from that standpoint. But a lot of the training we got at Michigan really helped from a work ethic standpoint. "I remember when we would go into the training room. They would say, 'He's a Michigan guy.' They knew you had the work ethic. That's just what we were producing at that time." When the end came in the NFL, After playing 11 seasons in the NFL, McGee is now the chief executive officer of HNM Global Logistics. PHOTO COURTESY TONY MCGEE