Micah Hyde (American football)

Early years

Hyde was born in Fostoria, Ohio and attended Fostoria High School where he lettered in three sports: baseball, basketball and football. On the gridiron, he was a team captain during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons with the team. As a junior, Hyde earned northern Ohio first-team honors as a quarterback, defensive back, and place kicker. He was also named honorable mention as a punter. He was additionally named a first team defensive back and quarterback in his senior year. He also earned first-team all-conference basketball and baseball honors and averaged 22 points a game in basketball during his time there. During his career, he had 165 tackles, eight interceptions and seven defended passes as a cornerback. As a quarterback, he had 549 rushing attempts for 3,443 yards and 46 touchdowns and also completed 606 out of 997 passes for 7,864 yards and 65 touchdowns. Hyde broke 17 school records, including those for touchdown passes in a season and a career.

Hyde was also a standout baseball player growing up and won a USSSA State Championship in 2003 as a member of the Findlay Explosion, a team that also included Aaron Craft.

College career

Hyde was heavily recruited coming out of high school and received scholarship offers from numerous schools including Iowa, Ball State, Bowling Green, Miami (OH), Ohio, and Toledo. He was ranked as a two-star dual-threat quarterback by Rivals.com He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds, had a 3.2 grade point average at Fostoria and scored a 20 on his ACT.

Hyde ultimately decided to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes and competed mainly on special teams and on a defense that held 11 players that would go on to be drafted into the NFL. He received his first college playing time in a game against Northern Iowa and contributed one tackle on special teams. He also appeared against the Michigan Wolverines and recorded two tackles.

During his sophomore year, Hyde played a much more expanded role on defense and started all 13 games at cornerback. He made his first big impact in a game against the Ball State Cardinals, where he forced a fumble and intercepted a pass. Later in the season when the Hawkeyes played Michigan State, Hyde scored his first touchdown on a lateral from teammate Tyler Sash late in the first quarter. He finished the season with a career-high in tackles with 82, 58 of them solo, with 4 interceptions. His performance lead to him being named as an honorable mention to the All-Big Ten team.

After the successes of his second year, Hyde was rotated between free safety and cornerback during spring practice and started the first two games at safety. He was moved back to cornerback against Pittsburgh and had two interceptions, the second winning the game for the Hawkeyes as it allowed them to run the clock out. He finished the year with 72 tackles (1.5 for loss), 3 interceptions, and a forced fumble. He was named an honorable mention to the All-Big Ten team.

In his final year with the Hawkeyes, Hyde was named a first-team All-Big Ten selection and also won the Tatum-Woodson Award, annually given to the best defensive back in the conference. He finished his career starting every game for three consecutive seasons. He finished his senior year with 78 tackles, 14 defensed passes, an interception, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Professional career

Hyde was predicted to be a sixth round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. His strengths were believed to be his strong tackling ability and always playing alert with good instincts. His weaknesses were said to be his lack of hip flexibility and lack of top speed.

Green Bay Packers

Hyde was drafted with the 26th pick of the 5th round (159 overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. He was said to likely be a safety in Green Bay's system and could take over returning kickoffs and punts. Hyde scored his first professional touchdown on a 93-yard punt return against the Minnesota Vikings on October 27, 2013. In week 10 of the 2014 NFL season, he made his first career interception, in a blowout against the Chicago Bears. Hyde had two punt returns for touchdowns during the 2014 season, and now has three for his career, tying a Packers record with Desmond Howard.

Buffalo Bills

On March 9, 2017, Hyde signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Buffalo Bills.

Personal life

Micah's brother Marcus played college football at Michigan State from a redshirt year of 2006 through 2010 where Marcus played the safety position.