Michigan State to Honor The Lives Mike Sadler and Mylan Hicks Saturday
Former Michigan State football players Mike Sadler and Mylan Hicks will be honored this Saturday during the Michigan State football game, five years after they both passed away in separate incidents.
Most remember Sadler as the funny punter on twitter for the Spartans from 2010-2014. Sadler was one of the most likable Spartans during his time and had quite an impact on and off the field along with his twitter account which was very popular at the time.
Sadler was the first Four-Time Academic All-American in Michigan State Football history as well as being a First Team Academic All-American in 2013-2014. He was also a finalist for the William V. Campbell trophy for the Top Scholar-Athlete in 2014. He was nearly perfect in his academics graduating with a 3.97 GPA while graduating with a major in applied sciences in 2013 and earned his masters in degree in public policy in 2014.
Sadler also excelled on the football field where he was awarded an All-American honor of some all four years (2011-2014) he was the starting punter for the Spartans. Sadler ranks second with all-time career punts with 268 as well as second in punting yards with 11,307. Sadler also ranked sixth all-time in average at 42.2. Sadler was also a finalist for the Ray Guy Award awarded to college football's most outstanding punter during the 2013 season.
Sadler passed away in July of 2016 after a car accident in Wisconsin where the car lost control after having wet pavement left the road and struck a tree taking the lives of Sadler and Nebraska punter Samuel Foltz while their was on sole survivor, LSU punter, Colby Delahoussaye.
Sadler's mother (Karen) and sister (Katie) along with Foltz's parents (Jill/Gerald) will participate in the coin toss for Michigan State and Nebraska on Saturday.
Mylan Hicks was in the same class as Sadler playing for the Spartans from 2010-2014. Hicks recorded 27 tackles in 32 career games for the Spartans while playing both safety and linebacker.
Both Hicks and Sadler were apart of winning four bowl games including the Rose Bowl in the 2013 season. They were also on two Big Ten Championship teams in 2010 and 2013.
Hicks was killed outside of a night club in Canada after an altercation escalated ultimately costing Hicks his life. Hicks was playing in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Calgary Stampede at the time.
Hicks will be honored before the game Saturday as well but it is unclear how they plan on doing it.