Michigan City quarterback Michael McCullough could always run.
From the age of 5 — when he first started playing football — to his senior year this fall, he always had the ability to rack up yards with his legs.
But when he became the starting quarterback at Michigan City as a sophomore, those legs could only carry him so far.
“Once I got to high school, everyone was pretty good,” he said. “So, me running all of the time wasn’t going to work. I had to improve my passing and get the ball in the air more.”
Through extensive work both in and outside of practice, McCullough has developed into a dual-threat quarterback and the driving force behind a Wolves’ offense averaging 34 points.
Coach Phil Mason, in his second year with the team, said McCullough jumped off the screen when Mason watched game film from the 2015 season after taking over the program.
“You could see a lot of athleticism and really good quarterback skills in him,” Mason said. “He wants the ball in his hands. He wants to make plays. We’re seeing that with him this year. Every week has been an improvement from the week before.”
McCullough said he made a significant leap in his passing ability between his sophomore and junior years.
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“When I realized what we had as threats on the outside, we worked so hard on passing that it’s one of my strengths now,” he said. “I was always with my teammates outside of football, so we’d hang out and then go outside and play catch.”
Senior receiver Keyshawn McGill was a frequent practice partner for McCullough and is the Wolves’ leading receiver with 437 yards and five touchdowns on 18 receptions. But he’s just one of nine players who’ve caught passes. In all, McCullough has completed 63 of 120 passes for 1,113 yards and 10 TDs.
But don’t forget about McCullough’s running ability. He’s second on the team with 240 rushing yards and three TDs.
“That’s just today’s kind of quarterback,” Mason said of McCullough’s skill set. “He’s a very athletic kid with a strong arm who learned our system quite easily. He’s got a great cast around him and he wants to be successful. All of those things are the recipe for a kid to have success.”
Just two games remain in the regular season for Michigan City, but Mason said there’s still plenty of time for McCullough to improve even more.
“Right now, we expand our offense by what we can do schematically or because of our opponents,” Mason said. “He’s able to pick up on that whether it’s changing route concepts or additions to the run game. He doesn’t have any difficulty with that. He’s great in meetings, attentive to what I want him to do and providing great leadership.”
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.