After bumpy arrival, Malloy clear for takeoff

IOWA CITY -- On July 26, 2011, Michael Malloy committed to play running back at the University of Iowa.

It was all downhill from there.

On Aug. 8, Malloy was arrested in Nebraska and charged with with four offenses, including possession or use of drug paraphernalia, according to Dakota County (Neb.) court records. He eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer and sentenced to nine months probation.

He subsequently lost the scholarship offer to Iowa. Wait, Malloy's story hasn't bottomed out yet.

After the arrest, after losing his scholarship, after being suspended for Sioux City Heelan's first three games of 2011, Malloy lost the one mental oasis he had. He suffered a torn ACL on Sept. 16 in Sioux City Heelan's game against Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley and missed the rest of 2011.

Granted, much of it was his own doing, but that is a dump truck of adversity to dump on anyone let alone an 18-year-old star high school running back. And, yet, here Malloy is.

He's a redshirt freshman running back for the Hawkeyes. The 6-0, 215-pounder came to Iowa on the stipulation that if he "stayed on the right path," he would receive a scholarship.

In June, he was put on scholarship.

"It was a struggle going through all that stuff, especially with my injury and not being able to play my senior year," said Malloy, who gave unblinking straight answers to the questions about everything 2011. "All of it was a learning experience. I think it made me tougher as a person. I'm more dedicated to the game. It's something I can take into the future."

Malloy had a scholarship offer from South Dakota. He could've stayed closer to home, had his school paid for and been a Coyote. Instead, he stuck with Iowa.

"After getting in trouble, I wanted to take responsibility for it," said Malloy, who, as a junior at Heelan, rushed for 1,668 yards and 29 touchdowns. "I committed here, I liked it here and I wanted to stay here and not have that mistake affect what I was going to do."

Now, the angst is the regular kind of football player angst.

Malloy is maybe fourth or fifth on Iowa's running back depth chart. There's junior Mark Weisman, Iowa's leading rusher in '12, and junior Damon Bullock, last season's second-leading rusher, and sophomore Jordan Canzeri, a speedy back who started the 2011 Insight Bowl for Iowa.

Malloy traded in and out with true freshman LeShun Daniels during last weekend's scrimmage.

"Angst" might be too strong of a word here. Malloy almost had his redshirt pulled last season as a true freshman. Weisman and Bullock were hurt. Canzeri took a redshirt while recovering from a torn ACL in spring '12. Bullock returned from a concussion, and so Malloy stayed on the bench.

He was so close, though, that he could taste the black rubber pellets that kick up on the Kinnick Stadium FieldTurf. This is where Malloy's hard-earned perspective kicks in.

"I'm hoping to get on the field as much as I can. Anything they need me to do," Malloy said. "It's definitely the coaches' decision. I totally respect that. I know that they've had a lot more experience in this game than I have, I definitely respect what they say or decide. I'm just hoping if I work hard, I'll get some carries or some playing time."

When talking running back playing time, first-year running backs coach Chris White first mentions Weisman, Bullock and Canzeri.

"Mark, Damon and Jordan, I think they'll all have plenty of reps," White said. "Really, what we're trying to do is package everything, so we can put them in the right spots and have the right plays for them."

Malloy impressed White during spring practice -- "I think his spring game kind of spoke for itself." White preaches a "four Bs" with his backs, the Bs being "base, bend, balance and burst." White said Malloy delivers the Bs.

"He's physical. He has enough speed," White said. "I wouldn't say he has great speed, but he has good speed. The thing about Michael, he has the four Bs. In the hole, he's as good of a backs as you'd want in terms of reading the right thing, making the right cuts and being in a good base."

So, sounds as though Malloy has his work cut out to break into a regular groove this year. But it is Iowa running back and you know the meat grinder that's been the last five or so years (in 2012 alone, Iowa lost four running backs -- Marcus Coker, Mika'il McCall, De'Andre Johnson and Greg Garmon).

This is OK. Malloy can work with this.

"I definitely learned that football is kind of like life," he said. "There are ups and downs. When there are downs, you have to stay focused, stay determined and keep pushing forward. You can't let that stuff affect the way you play or the way you interact with the game."

By the way, there was no grand ceremony when Malloy was awarded his scholarship. "It was just pretty much I got it, kind of," Malloy said. "There wasn't anything really special about it."

This wasn't a designed motivational ploy. That is how Kirk Ferentz does it with every walk-on who earns a scholarship. Besides, in Malloy's mind, there's still work to do.

"It was definitely a weight off my back, just knowing that I'm full scholarship," he said. "I still have to keep it in the back of my mind that I've earned it, but I have to keep it going and have to prove myself and be worthy of it."