Utah’s Bernard is Built for the Spotlight

As the University of Utah football team prepares for another season of chasing the Pac-12 crown, they’ll be doing so with a revamped running backs room.

At the end of 2020, it was readily apparent that two freshmen rose above everyone else on the depth chart. The future looked bright and the position looked loaded. Because of this, three backs transferred throughout the start to the end of the season.

Then as is well documented, tragedy struck, with Utah’s freshman All-American, Ty Jordan. As the Utes look to pick up the pieces, fight with heavy hearts and rebuild the position, that other freshman from 2020, might just be the next breakout star for the Utah offense: Micah Bernard.

“He is coming,” said Utah running backs coach Kiel McDonald. “We are getting better, each blade of grass at a time. We got a chance to see flashes (during the first scrimmage) of what he can do. There are things that we need to continue to work on. He is making strides and he is getting better in all facets of the game whether that be running the ball, blocking, pass catching, he is doing a good job and he is coming along.

He has exponentially grown as a man and as a football player and he has become more mature. When Micah got here, he was 17 years old, he was young,” continued McDonald. “He still should have been in high school and graduated a year before he was supposed to and it’s a maturation process. To see how he was when he first got here and to where he is now, running strong and running physically, it’s been good to see. He has got a lot in the tank and he’s got what he needs and so I am fired up to see where he goes.”

In an era where most parents are holding their kids back for a competitive advantage in school, Bernard’s mom chose to advance him ahead of schedule in school. Even despite that, Bernard has always held his own. According to his old Gahr HS coach Rocky Lucero, when Bernard was 14 years old, he was making 18 year-olds look silly on the football field.

“You could just see that first step burst out of a break and dude, a 14 year-old is not supposed to do that,” Lucero continued, “With Micah, after his freshman year [of high school], I knew he was going to be special. He was doing things on the [freshman] field that I haven’t seen in 26 years.”

Lucero admits that Gahr was lucky to have him, as Bernard was heavily pushed throughout his time in high school to go to high school powerhouses St. John Bosco or Mater Dei, but he stayed loyal to Gahr HS, a small school that plays in one of the toughest leagues in California aside from the Trinity league.

The moment that Lucero knew Bernard was destined for big things was during the playoffs Bernard’s junior year. “It was 4th and goal from the 4-yard line. He looked us dead in the eyes and said, ‘Coach just give me the ball and we’ll win the game.’ We went with the Wildcat so we could have as many blockers as possible. Bernard gets immediately stopped, then he drives the entire pile and we win the game.”

Bernard called it. He got stopped, but he wouldn’t get beat, on what Lucero says was his 47th carry of the game. That’s when Lucero knew his guy was ready for the big spotlight.

“He continues to make you think, ‘Wow the ceiling is so high for him.’ His ceiling is off the charts, and now he’s only 19,” said Lucero. “I know he has it in him. It’s the mental part that puts him over the edge. He’s mentally more mature than his age.”

Those that have known Bernard over the years say that performing his best in the bright lights is in his DNA. Some people have it and some people don’t.

“At the end of the day, Micah will work and work until he can’t work anymore,” said Lucero. “In all my years watching the Utah football program, those who work, will get rewarded for that work. I fully believe that with watching them and seeing the fruits they’re putting on the field. And you see them play for each other.”

If Utah finally breaks through to take the Pac-12 crown in 2021, it just might be Bernard calling for the ball in the biggest moment of the season to accomplish that. He’s built for this, it’s in his DNA.