Elliott Mealer : All posts

Longtime reserve Elliott Mealer emerges as likely starter at left guard for Michigan football team

Fifth-year senior Elliott Mealer, center left, appears to be on the cusp of starting for the first time in his Michigan career.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Ten days before the season opener against Alabama, he appears to have his guy.

"Elliott Mealer has really done a nice job," Hoke said Tuesday during a news conference at Schembechler Hall. "If we were playing tomorrow, he'd be the guy.

"His work ethic, his leadership, the maturation process -- I'm really excited for Elliott as much as anything else, and for our football team."

Michigan's bearded buds Joey Burzynski and Elliott Mealer still scrapping for starting OL spot

Elliott Mealer, center, is competing with friend and teammate Joey Burzynski for a starting position and in a beard growing competition.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

When it comes to beards, everything is cyclical.

"Facial hair goes in 150-year cycles," he says. "This was popular in the Civil War, and it should be coming back right about now I think."

6 risers and fallers from Michigan football team's spring camp

It was an uneventful spring camp for the Michigan football team -- and that's a good thing for a club that has 15 starters back from an 11-2 campaign.

Coach Brady Hoke wasn't changing up schemes. He has most of his playmakers back. He has established leaders, and depth at several key positions (with both lines being a notable exception).

He mostly was looking to get out healthy after 15 practices, and he did that, aside from some lumps here and there. But a few surprises did emerge along the way.

It's prudent to not read too much into the spring game -- which featured Denard Robinson for only one series, for example, and only base schemes on both sides of the ball, for another.

But, judging from what we saw Saturday, bolstered by camp reports from players and coaches, here are some risers and fallers from Michigan's spring:

Elliott Mealer overcomes tragedy, becomes leading candidate for starting spot on Michigan's offensive line

Senior Elliott Mealer (57) has emerged as the leader to start at left guard.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Elliott Mealer committed to the Michigan football program in April 2007. Eight months later, his life shattered into tiny pieces in one fiery car crash.

His longtime girlfriend, Hollis Richer, died after their SUV was struck and sent spinning into a ditch. So did his father, David.

It was Christmas Eve night. They were returning from a holiday party.

Elliott survived, along with his mother, Shelly, and brother, Brock. But the accident left Brock with a severely damaged spinal cord, and paralyzed him from the belly button down. He was told he would never walk again.

Their story is well-documented, after Brock beat the odds and emerged from his wheelchair. He eventually led Michigan onto the field for its 2010 season opener, walking on his own power wearing a T-shirt that read "1%" -- his odds of walking again.

His story went national.

Now a redshirt senior, it just might be Elliott's turn to enter the spotlight.

From 'never' to walking: Brock Mealer will lead Michigan football team onto field Saturday

Brock Mealer, the brother of Michigan offensive lineman Elliott Mealer, was severely injured in a car accident in December 2007. Here, he works out with strength and conditioning coordinator Parker Whiteman in the Schembechler Hall weight room in July.

Associated Press

Doctors delivered the grim news. Brock Mealer would never walk again.

In the weeks after a car accident paralyzed him from the belly button down on Christmas Eve 2007, they said they could manage his pain. But he fractured his T-12 and L-1 vertebrae, and would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

His mother insisted her son would walk, but doctors politely told Shelly Mealer that she didn’t know anything about medicine. Don’t live in denial, they said.

That’s the line Brock remembered.

“One of the most vivid memories I have is the surgeon just giving me the news that this is the best I could hope for,” he said. “They always wanted me to accept that fact.”

Elliott Mealer Finds Family with the Michigan Football Program

Football reporting can be monotonous with its repetitive copy of depth charts, injury reports and key match-ups. It’s the stories behind the scenes that are the most fascinating. How individuals become teams and how teams become families. This isn’t hyperbole. There are 122 student-athletes, 17 coaches and a small army of support staff in the Michigan football program, all on the same ride. How these individuals grow together and adapt to each other’s personalities and situations usually determines how rewarding the experience will be.