Northern Exposure Suits Pringle Fine

Mike Pringle has done virtually everything a running back could hope to do in the Canadian Football League.

In a league that provides only three plays to make a first down, and where passing dominates the game plans of most teams, Pringle has kept old-fashioned blast-it-out football in the Montreal Alouettes’ playbook.

Gene Murphy calls Pringle the “toughest player I’ve ever coached,” recalling the days in 1990 when Pringle led the nation in all-purpose yardage at Cal State Fullerton, and that hasn’t changed.

Pringle, 5 feet 9, 190 pounds, is still banging out yardage.

But no matter what he does, he can’t seem to get anyone in the NFL to take notice. At least serious notice.

A year ago, after being selected as the CFL’s most valuable player in 1995, Pringle was able to get a preseason tryout with the Denver Broncos. But, as far as Pringle is concerned, it turned out to be a tryout in name only.

“It was a big disappointment,” Pringle said. “I was probably the only player in the league that summer who never got to step on the field at his position.”

What little playing time Pringle had in the exhibition season was on the kick return team.

“I never got a chance to show anyone what I could do as a running back,” Pringle said. “I’m a blue-collar kind of runner, and that’s where I’m at my best. I can understand that they were getting ready for the season, but I thought I deserved more of a chance than what I was given. And it wasn’t a situation where I went in there without any credentials.”

Pringle led the CFL in rushing in 1994 and ‘95, and when he was chosen as the league’s MVP, he became the only player other than quarterback Doug Flutie to win the honor in the last seven years. In 1994, he set a league record for rushing with 1,972 yards and was only 72 yards shy of the CFL record for all-purpose yardage.

“When Denver cut me, they told me it was just a matter of numbers,” Pringle said.

Bobby Turner, the running backs coach for the Broncos, confirms that was the case. It was a matter of too many talented running backs with NFL experience above him on the depth chart.

“There was nothing negative about what he did for us,” Turner said. “He’s a tough, hard-running football player, but you can only keep four or five backs, and it was one of those situations where he was going to be better off playing regularly someplace else.”

By the time the Broncos released Pringle, it was too late for him to try to catch on with another NFL team. “And I was starting to get fed up with trying to force myself on anyone,” Pringle said.

Montreal, his old franchise in the CFL, was more than halfway through its season, but the Alouettes gladly welcomed him back. Pringle played in only eight regular-season games at Montreal, but rushed for 825 yards. That turned out to be fifth-best effort in the CFL that season.

Pringle is having another good year this season. Through 15 games, he again leads the CFL in rushing with 1,562 yards for a team that is 11-4. He has scored 11 touchdowns.

“I’m still hoping to to get to that big number--2,000 yards rushing in a season,” Pringle said. “I tried so hard and didn’t make it in 1994, and that created a lot of pressure. I don’t want to feel that way about it again. If it happens, that will be great.”

His coach, Dave Ritchie, thinks he has a good shot to make it this season.

“He’s quite a runner, a real throwback to the old days,” Ritchie said. “He’d rather run over people than run around them. He hits them, ricochets off and still gets more yardage. They key on him, but they still have trouble trying to stop him. He’s already knocked out two safeties this season.”

Pringle, who turned 30 this week, is confident he can have several more good seasons if he can remain healthy. “I’ve been blessed at being fairly injury-free,” he said. “Even when I had my right knee ‘scoped in ‘94, I didn’t miss a game.”

Pringle missed the last game of the regular season and the first game of the playoffs a year ago because of a dislocated left elbow, but played in the Eastern final with a protective pad on his arm.

“I stay in good shape because I train extremely hard,” said Pringle, who lives in Sylmar and works in the San Fernando Valley as a personal trainer in the off-season. “I’ve always been a big fan of Walter Payton, and I learned that from the things he did to stay in shape.”

But Pringle believes one injury probably changed the course of his career. Pringle appeared on the verge of making it in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons as a rookie in 1991. But he injured his neck on a kickoff return in the next-to-last exhibition game and became the final player cut.

“I might have been able to play with that injury, but I went to Jerry Glanville before the game and asked him if I really needed to play to make the team. He told me he didn’t think it would be a factor. But the guy who moved into my spot had a real good game, and he made the team, and I didn’t. Sometimes, breaks like that are the difference.”

But Pringle has no complaints about the CFL. “They’ve paid me pretty well, and this is a good league, with a lot of good athletes,” he said.

Has Pringle given up hope of another shot with the NFL before his career ends?

“It would have to be with someone I know would be serious about giving me a chance, someone like maybe Mike Ditka or Jimmy Johnson, who play my style of football,” Pringle said. “I’d love to have a chance there with someone who would appreciate the kind of football player I am.”