It would have seemed unfathomable not long ago that Ernest Hausmann would be back here, inside Schembechler Hall, trying out for the NFL at Michigan football’s pro day. After all, in November, during the final week of the Wolverines’ regular season, he suddenly chose to leave the team and the sport behind.
It was a bizarre decision, and no one really understood it until Thursday, when Sports Illustrated published a long-form article that told the wild story of Hausmann’s abrupt departure and what happened afterward.
During a chaotic period, he made a three-day visit to Uganda, the country where he was born; got into a car accident near the end of a cross-country road trip to Oregon to enlist in the Air National Guard; and was admitted to a U-M hospital, where he received care after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Eventually, in early January, he announced on Facebook he was medically retiring from football.
As he reflected on that turbulent chapter Friday in front of a small group of reporters, Hausmann said he wanted to be “open” about what transpired and just “let the whole world know kind of what’s going on.”
He was encouraged to do so, he said, by his agent, Mike McCartney.
McCartney has been plotting Hausmann’s return to football ever since the linebacker got the itch to play again in the winter, after re-enrolling at Michigan and returning to campus for classes. Realizing there was no time to waste, Hausmann immediately jetted off to California to train with other draft prospects. There, he kept a low profile and his comeback plans a closely guarded secret.
Hausmann remained out of sight and out of mind until the Sports Illustrated article dropped and set the stage for his public reintroduction at U-M’s annual NFL showcase event. Back in Ann Arbor, the former senior captain reunited with his old teammates. If there was any lingering resentment over the way Hausmann had left them, they didn’t show it.
“So happy to see him,” center Greg Crippen said.
“Ernie is my guy,” defensive tackle Damon Payne added. “It was just amazing and a blessing for him and for us to see him go to work.”
Linebacker Jimmy Rolder concurred, saying, “To go through all that and still be able to play the game, I think it’s a testament to him. Everyone is so glad he’s got some help and kind of got some transparency for what he’s dealing with.”
Still, Hausmann felt remorseful about the mysterious denouement to his distinguished college career.
As the SI feature detailed, he fractured his thumb at Wrigley Field in Chicago during the fourth quarter of a 24-22 victory over Northwestern on Nov. 15. Soon thereafter, he began communicating “delusions of grandeur” and experiencing “paranoia,” according to the article. When he wasn’t medically cleared to play in the final two games against Maryland and rival Ohio State, he left the team three days before the regular-season finale against the Buckeyes.
Hausmann’s absence sparked puzzlement among the fans, and clear answers weren’t provided by the program’s leadership.
Three days before his shocking firing in December, then-coach Sherrone Moore told reporters Hausmann was going “through some things … from a personal standpoint.”
No further explanation was offered, which meant there was no closure. The whereabouts of a player who contributed 203 tackles, three sacks and one interception over three seasons with Michigan were unknown.
“I want to say I’m sorry,” Hausmann told reporters Friday. “Even though I can’t control a lot of the situation. … Not to be on the field for the whole team, the teammates, it broke my heart. I know I let that I let a lot of people down. I let the fans down, the whole community down. But just know that I am doing everything I can to make myself better each day.”
Hausmann is trying to deliver that message to NFL teams, who are sure to have plenty of questions for him as they determine whether he is deserving of a roster spot.
The 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker, who wore a calm, stoic expression and maintained a rigid posture as he met with reporters Friday, is ready to answer them.
“There’s nothing to hide for me,” Hausmann said. “I tell them the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
As he said, “The journey is the journey.”
Following his brief, turbulent detour, he is now grateful to be back on the path toward playing football. U-M’s pro day represented the first major stop on his comeback tour after he skipped the NFL combine in February and remained sequestered away, training. Inside Al Glick Fieldhouse on Friday, he went through a battery of tests in front of NFL evaluators, doing everything but the bench press.
“I feel this is very crucial to my future playing football,” Hausmann said.
It seemed fitting then that the first true opportunity to reignite the career he left behind materialized in the same place he abandoned it not long ago. There, in Schembechler Hall, the hub of Michigan football, Hausmann had started to write the next chapter in his story.
“I’m just blessed,” he said, “to be standing with my two feet here.”
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ernest Hausmann back at Michigan football in search for NFL job
Reporting by Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
