Playing the same position as Cooper Kupp or Emmanuel Butler makes it almost impossible to not be overshadowed.
Mike Sharp may not be the consensus All-American record-shattering talent Kupp has been the last four years at Eastern Washington. And Sharp may not be as physically imposing as the statuesque Butler. But the senior standout might be the most versatile and competitive wide receiver in the Big Sky Conference.
And that’s saying something coming from a former three-sport athlete who spent his final teenage years on an LDS mission, nearly switched to defense and spent his first season and a half at Southern Utah as the Thunderbirds’ quarterback of the future.
SUU wide receiver Mike Sharp (11)/by Jason Bacaj
“Sharp absolutely tore us up, just ripped us,” said Portland State head coach Bruce Barnum the week after his team allowed Sharp to catch five passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns in a 45-31 Southern Utah win. “I’d throw the ball to him 69 times a game because he’s a dude. He rivals the mighty Cooper Kupp.”
This season, Kupp is once again ripping through the FCS on his way to cementing his legacy as one of the greatest college football players ever. Sharp is keeping pace as well as any receiver who does not play for Eastern Washington.
During his final campaign, Sharp has 55 catches for 681 yards and nine touchdowns. His 6.9 catches per game trail only Kupp’s 9.6 for the league lead. His nine touchdowns are third in the league behind Kupp and EWU senior Shaq Hill. He is among the top threats in the Big Sky, whether SUU is in the red-zone or driving from opposing territory.
“He’s a jack of all trades type of guy,” SUU second-year offensive coordinator Justin Walterscheid, Sharp’s wide receiver coach when he first made the switch midway through the 2014 season, said earlier this year. “You can find him in the backfield, in the slot, out there at the flanker. He can do a ton of different things and he can literally score from anywhere on the field.”
The St. George, Utah native was a Utah 4A first-team All-State selection as a quarterback at Dixie High last decade. He spent October of 2010 until October of 2012 on a mission in Jackson, Mississippi, something he says changed his life and set the stage for his success on the football field.
“You just learn to be on your own as a person when you serve a mission,” Sharp said earlier this week. “That way, your maturity level is a lot higher than coming right out of high school. Everyone as a teenager have their punk stages where they just aren’t developed. That’s something I learned from myself is I’m not the same person I was in high school. I have a few more years under my belt. I just turned 25 so I feel like the maturity level is a lot different than those who are younger.”
SUU wide receiver Mike Sharp (11)
When he returned from Mississippi, he was already 21 years old. Sharp knew for certain he did not want to redshirt. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder was given the option of redshirting or playing linebacker so he chose the latter. Injuries ensured his move back to offense and he ended up rushing for 436 yards and two touchdowns as SUU’s ‘Wildcat’ quarterback while also throwing for 268 yards and a score as SUU spurted into the playoffs for the first time as a Division I member.
But Sharp was still in limbo, especially when 6-foot-4 strong-armed BYU transfer Ammon Olsen won the starting quarterback job during the 2014 season. Sharp finished that campaign strong, catching 34 passes for 511 yards and four touchdowns but he still didn’t feel totally comfortable.
“Mike is extremely coachable, one of my favorite guys I’ve ever worked with,” Walterscheid said. “From the moment I got him, I told a couple of our other coaches that this guy was going to be special. It was a little bit hard to see in the beginning because a lot of the receiver stuff was foreign to him. But he went through a spring ball and he’s a guy who wants to be coached and he welcomes the coaching and some of the constructive criticism. He’s a guy you tell him something in the meetings and he will go out on the practice field and you can see him working the new techniques.”
Midway through last season, Sharp said it all clicked. The shifty, strong and noticeably competitive wide receiver was a four-year varsity baseball player and a starter on the varsity basketball team during his prep days just up the road from Cedar City. He said he never was much of a shooter on the hardwood but he has an explosive jumping ability, a quick first step and a competitiveness while in the air to grab the ball, whether it’s a rebound or a jump ball thrown by his quarterback.
The skill set began to translate onto the football field during the second half of 2015. Sharp caught 13 touchdown passes last season to earn second-team All-Big Sky honors. Eleven of the scoring grabs came in Southern Utah’s final five games as the Thunderbirds won their first-ever Big Sky Conference title.
SUU wide receiver Mike Sharp (11)
This season has brought more of the same. He caught three touchdown passes, including two in the first half, to stake Southern Utah to a 14-9 lead over Montana in Missoula before UM ran away with 27 unanswered points. Sharp caught 13 balls for 148 yards and a touchdown against league-leading North Dakota. He topped 100 yards against PSU and he had 11 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown in SUU’s best offensive performance of the season in a 52-27 win over Idaho State last week.
“He’s just a competitor,” SUU first-year head coach Demario Warren, an assistant at SUU for eight years prior to taking over for Ed Lamb, said earlier this week. “He doesn’t look the part when you see him walking around and he’s not going to surprise you with his 40 time but he’s a huge competitor and he’s faster than people think. He’s been able to improve so fast just because he wants to be great. He works at it every single day and when the ball is in the air, there’s nobody better on our team to go and get the ball.”
This week, Southern Utah prepares to host Montana State for the first time since its first season in the Big Sky in 2012. The Thunderbirds posted back-to-back wins over MSU in 2013 and 2015, both in Bozeman. In 2013, the freshman Sharp rushed for 30 yards and completed a pass as Southern Utah pulled out a 22-14 win on the way to its first-ever FCS playoff berth. The teams did not play in 2014 but last season in SUU’s 34-23 win at Bobcat Stadium, Sharp caught five passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.
“No. 11, Sharp, is a guy who competes for the ball as well as anyone,” MSU first-year head coach Jeff Choate said. “He’s probably similar in size to Cooper Kupp in terms of his physical stature….He’s a great route runner, physical guy who does a lot of good things for them in the offense.”
Southern Utah is sitting at 3-3 in Big Sky play, 4-4 overall. The Thunderbirds are locked right in the middle of the 13-team league. A repeat of last year’s championship run is not in the cards and a playoff berth is a long shot — after MSU, SUU finishes at BYU and at Northern Arizona, although wins in each could push the Thunderbirds to seven Division I wins and put them squarely on the playoff bubble.
SUU wide receiver Mike Sharp (11)
Sharp himself feels like an adult ready for whatever comes next. He hopes football is in his future. Growing up in southern Utah, Sharp always dreamed of playing sports professionally. After catching 26 touchdowns and keeping pace with one of the greatest to ever play in the Big Sky, Sharp will at least get an opportunity to display himself when his senior season is finished.
“Since I’ve ever played sports, young, young, that’s all I ever wanted to do was play a sport professionally whether it was basketball or baseball or football,” Sharp said. “Right now, that’s something I want to do. I think there’s a lot of luck involved so we will see how things go but that’s my dream. I hope it comes true.”
The final home game of Sharp’s career kicks off at 12:05 p.m. MST at Eccles Coliseum on Saturday in Cedar City.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
