Caulcrick honors past with present

Last season, all it took was a 30-yard run by then-junior running back Jehuu Caulcrick to put the Spartans ahead of No. 12-ranked Notre Dame, 37-21, with just less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter. MSU was in control of the game.

Caulcrick had racked up 111 yards on eight carries. Yet all he did after that last touchdown was sit. All MSU did was let the win slip through their wet and tired hands.

Caulcrick’s removal from that game still puzzles him. He never received an explanation, nor did he ever find one.

“I wanted to be out there helping my team, but I wasn’t given the opportunity,” Caulcrick said. “But I wasn’t going to be selfish about it, I was just going to cheer my team on from where I was.”

Now he is out on the field and doing more than helping his team.

While former MSU head coach John L. Smith preferred to keep Caulcrick off the field for chunks of games in seasons past, new MSU head coach Mark Dantonio has made a point of using the 6-foot, 255 pound bruising back.

After four first-half touchdowns last week against UAB, there is reason to believe that the Liberia native won’t pull any disappearing acts this season.

It’s almost as if Caulcrick’s football career has been resurrected from its coffin in the spread offense, brought back to life with a more balanced game plan and more appreciative coaching staff.

“I’m definitely viewing this as a fresh start,” Caulcrick said. “I think there’s a lot for me to prove this season, it’s my last season. I still have to prove a lot to people and to myself.”

The fact that Caulcrick is here is enough proof of his perseverance.

He and his sister escaped war-torn Liberia, living on their own and on the run. Their mother, Bonita Caulcrick, had previously fled to the United States and worked to get her children visas.

Eventually, she succeeded in bringing them to New York.

It was in New York at Clymer High School where Caulcrick desired to continue his athletic pursuits in soccer.

When he learned Clymer didn’t have a soccer team, Caulcrick was left with little to do in his free time.

Apparently, though, boredom breeds brilliance.

“I came from a country (that didn’t know) about football – the football we played there was soccer,” Caulcrick said.

“I just started playing football because I got bored, and I went out to the practices and I liked it from there.”

It didn’t take long for Caulcrick to catch on.

He led Clymer to four straight championships and etched his name in the Western New York record books as the all-time leading rusher with 6,559 career yards.

There wasn’t much of a learning curve to adjust to. To Caulcrick, it was pretty simple and Spartans fans hope it stays that way.

“When I got the ball I just ran,” he said. “I didn’t know (what to do), I just got the ball and ran, and it worked out.”