Eastern Michigan Athletics
A Walk Through History: A New Batch of Memories Begins
12/23/2019 1:06:00 PM | Football
Author T.C. Cameron tells unknown tales from EMU Football's Past
Previous Stories: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Part of what makes Charlie Batch's story remarkable — no Eastern Michigan player had more success in the National Football League — is the auspicious circumstances of Nov. 19, 1994.
That's the day Batch started his rise from under-recruited high school pocket passer to two-time Super Bowl champion.
Batch was Jim Harkema's final scholarship offer in 1992. EMU had come to Homestead, Pennsylvania to recruit someone else, but signed Batch instead. Then, after the fourth game of that season, Harkema abruptly resigned. Ron Cooper, the associate head coach at Notre Dame, was hired following the season's end as his replacement. The new coach immediately signed junior college quarterbacks Michael Armour and Dayna Hall to compete for the job.
Armour won the job, and Batch, after being redshirted in 1993, saw sporadic action in 1994, until the last day of the season, Senior Day at Rynearson Stadium against Toledo. After a disastrous 1-6 start, EMU had won three straight, but 12 minutes into the game, Toledo led, 17-0. As EMU awaited the kickoff, an argument ensued between Cooper, the offensive coordinator and the receivers and quarterbacks coaches. Batch heard Cooper say, "If you believe in it that strongly, make the change!" Cooper then turned to Batch and said, "Grab your helmet — you're in!"
What had spurred the change, besides his performances in practice, was what Batch had done the week earlier, going 7-for 7 for over 100 yards and a touchdown in a 24-13 win at Ohio.
Thrust into a desperate situation, Batch led EMU on an 11-play drive, ending with a 6-yard touchdown to Steve Woodberry. After a Toledo field goal, Batch struck again, finding Ryan Wheatley from 7 yards out. EMU trailed at the half, 23-14, but Batch had seven completions, 88 yards and two touchdowns.
Cooper toyed with putting Armour back in the game — position coaches quickly talked him out of it — while sportswriters in the press box wondered, "Why has he not started before today?"
Batch marched EMU to another touchdown to start the third quarter, but Toledo answered to make it 30-21. On the ensuing possession, the Rockets were so determined to stop Batch's passing proficiency, the Eagles called 10 straight running plays, going 65 yards before scoring on Rick Granata's 1-yard dive. Later, Batch hit Bristol Greene for 16 yards and the Eagles, inexplicably, had a 34-30 lead.
Toledo rallied to re-take the lead, 37-34, and the Rockets left just 75 seconds remaining in the game.
"Guys on the sideline were saying, 'Let's get close enough for a Hail Mary,'' Batch said. "I knew the clock stopped for any first down so we had enough time. I wasn't interested in settling for a Hail Mary. I wanted to get all the way down the field and win the game."
Starting on their 23, Batch found Steve Clay for 12 yards. A personal foul moved the ball to midfield. A sack and an incompletion followed, but Batch found Clay for 28 yards on 3rd and 19 for a first down at Toledo's 31.
An incompletion, a holding foul against EMU and a 12-yard strike to Savon Edwards forced Batch to spike the next snap to stop the clock. Just eight seconds remained. Next, Batch found Wheatley and he thundered down the sideline for 19 yards as teammates and coaches screamed at him to step out. He finally did at the Toledo 17.
First down, EMU. Just one second remained.
From the hashmark closest to the EMU sideline, Batch took the last snap. He rolled left, escaping a defensive end and giving his receivers more time to get open. Problem was, he was running out of real estate — he passed the numbers and was fast approaching the Toledo sideline. That's when he made eye contact with Ontario Pryor, who was running throwing into the end zone an instant before he gets mashed into the turf from behind.
"Ontario reverse pivots and is running left to right. I have to get the ball over the safety's head to make the play, but it's tough because I'm rolling left," Batch says, "I remember seeing their safety jumping up to bat the pass down as I'm falling down. I hear the canon fire, so I know Ontario plucked the pass out of the air for a score. When I looked up, our sideline is rushing into the end zone."
After a few celebratory fist pumps and high-five jumps, the team ran out of the end zone, across the track and onto the white, concrete "E" on the middle of the berm before the Convocation Center tunnel was constructed. As the wild celebration ensued, Toledo walked off the field in stunned silence.
Everyone except U-T head coach Gary Pinkel.
"Coach Pinkel found me, shook my hand and said, 'We were not prepared for you. You're going to be a great one,'" Batch said. "I've never forgotten that conversation. It still means a lot to me today."
A few weeks later, Cooper accepted the head coaching job at Louisville.
"I never felt like I was Cooper's guy," Batch said. "I was going to make it as difficult as I could for the new coach to give someone else the job."
Cooper, now a defensive backs coach at Arkansas, laughed when told about Batch's statement.
"He had the job won after that day for sure," Coper said, "That win was what everyone talked about in those (job) interviews…there's no doubt I should have stayed at EMU longer … and enjoy the full stretch of Charlie Batch."
The new coach was Rick Rasnick, runner-up to Cooper two years earlier, and he named Batch the starter on the first day of spring practice.
Batch responded by authoring one of the great seasons in EMU history in 1995, throwing for 3,177 yards, 224 completions, 21 touchdowns and a passer rating of 130. He was the unanimous All-MAC first team selection.
But it didn't stay sunny in Ypsilanti for long. On Feb. 17, 1996, Batch was eating dinner in his apartment when the phone rang. His mother, Lynn Settles, was on the other end, summoning him home immediately. She wouldn't say why. Persistent, Batch continued to ask. Finally, his mother gave in. His sister, Danyl Lynn, had been killed that night. Caught in crossfire in an alleyway between waring gangs in Homestead, she had been shot in the head.
She was just 17.
The phone rang at the home of Dan Henson, EMU's quarterbacks coach. He was the first person Batch called, and as Batch sobbed inconsolably, Henson decided he and his son, Drew, needed to be at Batch's apartment immediately. He stayed until sunrise, when Batch drove home. Had it not been for Henson's consistent contact while Batch was home, he might not have returned to EMU.
"At that point, I needed football and school more than it needed me," Batch said.
Turning his heartbreak into a motivating force, Batch powered through previously loathsome early-morning workouts. His 1996 season ended after a leg injury in the third game of the season at Wisconsin, but Batch was undaunted in applying for and receiving a near-unprecedented extra year of eligibility. Voted Eastern's Most Valuable Player in 1997, Batch's outstanding season was highlighted by EMU's comeback at Central Michigan, when he threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns, his 1-yard run for a score with 6:27 remaining capping 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 31-24 victory.
From holding a clipboard to holding nearly every EMU passing record in just three years, a professional career beckoned. Perhaps buoyed by the success of Ron Rice — an undrafted signee in 1995 who became a seven-year mainstay in the Detroit Lions' secondary — Batch was selected by the Lions in the second round draft pick (60th overall).
The two former EMU teammates opened the flood gates for future NFL players hailing from Ypsilanti. While Rice was the first EMU player to play more than two consecutive seasons in the league since Ron Johnson, Jim Pietrzak and Dave Pureifory bridged the 1970's and 1980s, Batch became the first MAC quarterback to be drafted since Brian McClure in 1986 out of Bowling Green.
"I felt like I had to make a name not just for myself, but those trying to come behind me, too," Batch said.
Almost overnight, EMU had six players in the league by 1999, Rice and Batch joined by Vashone Adams, Lionel Dalton, L.J. Shelton and Barry Stokes. Batch's selection triggered a flood of MAC quarterbacks, too, highlighted by Ben Roethlisberger (Miami), Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington (Marshall), Julien Edelman (Kent State), Charlie Frye (Akron) and Bruce Gradkowski (Toledo).
In 2006, less than 10 years after Batch was drafted, the MAC boasted five starting NFL quarterbacks.
After four years as the Lions' starter, Batch signed with Pittsburgh, ending his career with 11 seasons with his hometown team, winning Super Bowl XL and XLIII. He threw 61 touchdowns in 81 games over 15 NFL seasons. The comeback he authored at Rynearson was a precursor of Batch's ability to change outcomes, too: he led nine fourth quarter comebacks and 11 game-winning drives in the NFL.
Today, Batch works as a Steelers' television commentator and motivational speaker, his message for success based on, "Be ready, be resilient and be the pro."
Now 25 years removed from the day his success story started, Batch remains thankful of Ypsilanti apprenticeship.
"I was proud to say 'Eastern Michigan' when I was introduced on Sunday Night or Monday Night Football," Batch says, " and that hasn't changed. If you don't know, it's in Ypsilanti, and we call it 'Ypsi.' If you can't spell it, I'll spell it for you. EMU was a blessing, and there isn't anything I'd change."
— T.C. Cameron is the author of Miracle Maples (2019) and Navy Football: Return to Glory (2017). A 1995 graduate of EMU, he's lived in Annapolis, MD since 2009. Follow him on Twitter: @ByTCCameron.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Part of what makes Charlie Batch's story remarkable — no Eastern Michigan player had more success in the National Football League — is the auspicious circumstances of Nov. 19, 1994.
That's the day Batch started his rise from under-recruited high school pocket passer to two-time Super Bowl champion.
Batch was Jim Harkema's final scholarship offer in 1992. EMU had come to Homestead, Pennsylvania to recruit someone else, but signed Batch instead. Then, after the fourth game of that season, Harkema abruptly resigned. Ron Cooper, the associate head coach at Notre Dame, was hired following the season's end as his replacement. The new coach immediately signed junior college quarterbacks Michael Armour and Dayna Hall to compete for the job.
Armour won the job, and Batch, after being redshirted in 1993, saw sporadic action in 1994, until the last day of the season, Senior Day at Rynearson Stadium against Toledo. After a disastrous 1-6 start, EMU had won three straight, but 12 minutes into the game, Toledo led, 17-0. As EMU awaited the kickoff, an argument ensued between Cooper, the offensive coordinator and the receivers and quarterbacks coaches. Batch heard Cooper say, "If you believe in it that strongly, make the change!" Cooper then turned to Batch and said, "Grab your helmet — you're in!"
What had spurred the change, besides his performances in practice, was what Batch had done the week earlier, going 7-for 7 for over 100 yards and a touchdown in a 24-13 win at Ohio.
Thrust into a desperate situation, Batch led EMU on an 11-play drive, ending with a 6-yard touchdown to Steve Woodberry. After a Toledo field goal, Batch struck again, finding Ryan Wheatley from 7 yards out. EMU trailed at the half, 23-14, but Batch had seven completions, 88 yards and two touchdowns.
Cooper toyed with putting Armour back in the game — position coaches quickly talked him out of it — while sportswriters in the press box wondered, "Why has he not started before today?"
Batch marched EMU to another touchdown to start the third quarter, but Toledo answered to make it 30-21. On the ensuing possession, the Rockets were so determined to stop Batch's passing proficiency, the Eagles called 10 straight running plays, going 65 yards before scoring on Rick Granata's 1-yard dive. Later, Batch hit Bristol Greene for 16 yards and the Eagles, inexplicably, had a 34-30 lead.
Toledo rallied to re-take the lead, 37-34, and the Rockets left just 75 seconds remaining in the game.
"Guys on the sideline were saying, 'Let's get close enough for a Hail Mary,'' Batch said. "I knew the clock stopped for any first down so we had enough time. I wasn't interested in settling for a Hail Mary. I wanted to get all the way down the field and win the game."
Starting on their 23, Batch found Steve Clay for 12 yards. A personal foul moved the ball to midfield. A sack and an incompletion followed, but Batch found Clay for 28 yards on 3rd and 19 for a first down at Toledo's 31.
An incompletion, a holding foul against EMU and a 12-yard strike to Savon Edwards forced Batch to spike the next snap to stop the clock. Just eight seconds remained. Next, Batch found Wheatley and he thundered down the sideline for 19 yards as teammates and coaches screamed at him to step out. He finally did at the Toledo 17.
First down, EMU. Just one second remained.
From the hashmark closest to the EMU sideline, Batch took the last snap. He rolled left, escaping a defensive end and giving his receivers more time to get open. Problem was, he was running out of real estate — he passed the numbers and was fast approaching the Toledo sideline. That's when he made eye contact with Ontario Pryor, who was running throwing into the end zone an instant before he gets mashed into the turf from behind.
"Ontario reverse pivots and is running left to right. I have to get the ball over the safety's head to make the play, but it's tough because I'm rolling left," Batch says, "I remember seeing their safety jumping up to bat the pass down as I'm falling down. I hear the canon fire, so I know Ontario plucked the pass out of the air for a score. When I looked up, our sideline is rushing into the end zone."
After a few celebratory fist pumps and high-five jumps, the team ran out of the end zone, across the track and onto the white, concrete "E" on the middle of the berm before the Convocation Center tunnel was constructed. As the wild celebration ensued, Toledo walked off the field in stunned silence.
Everyone except U-T head coach Gary Pinkel.
"Coach Pinkel found me, shook my hand and said, 'We were not prepared for you. You're going to be a great one,'" Batch said. "I've never forgotten that conversation. It still means a lot to me today."
A few weeks later, Cooper accepted the head coaching job at Louisville.
"I never felt like I was Cooper's guy," Batch said. "I was going to make it as difficult as I could for the new coach to give someone else the job."
Cooper, now a defensive backs coach at Arkansas, laughed when told about Batch's statement.
"He had the job won after that day for sure," Coper said, "That win was what everyone talked about in those (job) interviews…there's no doubt I should have stayed at EMU longer … and enjoy the full stretch of Charlie Batch."
The new coach was Rick Rasnick, runner-up to Cooper two years earlier, and he named Batch the starter on the first day of spring practice.
Batch responded by authoring one of the great seasons in EMU history in 1995, throwing for 3,177 yards, 224 completions, 21 touchdowns and a passer rating of 130. He was the unanimous All-MAC first team selection.
But it didn't stay sunny in Ypsilanti for long. On Feb. 17, 1996, Batch was eating dinner in his apartment when the phone rang. His mother, Lynn Settles, was on the other end, summoning him home immediately. She wouldn't say why. Persistent, Batch continued to ask. Finally, his mother gave in. His sister, Danyl Lynn, had been killed that night. Caught in crossfire in an alleyway between waring gangs in Homestead, she had been shot in the head.
She was just 17.
The phone rang at the home of Dan Henson, EMU's quarterbacks coach. He was the first person Batch called, and as Batch sobbed inconsolably, Henson decided he and his son, Drew, needed to be at Batch's apartment immediately. He stayed until sunrise, when Batch drove home. Had it not been for Henson's consistent contact while Batch was home, he might not have returned to EMU.
"At that point, I needed football and school more than it needed me," Batch said.
Turning his heartbreak into a motivating force, Batch powered through previously loathsome early-morning workouts. His 1996 season ended after a leg injury in the third game of the season at Wisconsin, but Batch was undaunted in applying for and receiving a near-unprecedented extra year of eligibility. Voted Eastern's Most Valuable Player in 1997, Batch's outstanding season was highlighted by EMU's comeback at Central Michigan, when he threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns, his 1-yard run for a score with 6:27 remaining capping 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 31-24 victory.
From holding a clipboard to holding nearly every EMU passing record in just three years, a professional career beckoned. Perhaps buoyed by the success of Ron Rice — an undrafted signee in 1995 who became a seven-year mainstay in the Detroit Lions' secondary — Batch was selected by the Lions in the second round draft pick (60th overall).
The two former EMU teammates opened the flood gates for future NFL players hailing from Ypsilanti. While Rice was the first EMU player to play more than two consecutive seasons in the league since Ron Johnson, Jim Pietrzak and Dave Pureifory bridged the 1970's and 1980s, Batch became the first MAC quarterback to be drafted since Brian McClure in 1986 out of Bowling Green.
"I felt like I had to make a name not just for myself, but those trying to come behind me, too," Batch said.
Almost overnight, EMU had six players in the league by 1999, Rice and Batch joined by Vashone Adams, Lionel Dalton, L.J. Shelton and Barry Stokes. Batch's selection triggered a flood of MAC quarterbacks, too, highlighted by Ben Roethlisberger (Miami), Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington (Marshall), Julien Edelman (Kent State), Charlie Frye (Akron) and Bruce Gradkowski (Toledo).
In 2006, less than 10 years after Batch was drafted, the MAC boasted five starting NFL quarterbacks.
After four years as the Lions' starter, Batch signed with Pittsburgh, ending his career with 11 seasons with his hometown team, winning Super Bowl XL and XLIII. He threw 61 touchdowns in 81 games over 15 NFL seasons. The comeback he authored at Rynearson was a precursor of Batch's ability to change outcomes, too: he led nine fourth quarter comebacks and 11 game-winning drives in the NFL.
Today, Batch works as a Steelers' television commentator and motivational speaker, his message for success based on, "Be ready, be resilient and be the pro."
Now 25 years removed from the day his success story started, Batch remains thankful of Ypsilanti apprenticeship.
"I was proud to say 'Eastern Michigan' when I was introduced on Sunday Night or Monday Night Football," Batch says, " and that hasn't changed. If you don't know, it's in Ypsilanti, and we call it 'Ypsi.' If you can't spell it, I'll spell it for you. EMU was a blessing, and there isn't anything I'd change."
— T.C. Cameron is the author of Miracle Maples (2019) and Navy Football: Return to Glory (2017). A 1995 graduate of EMU, he's lived in Annapolis, MD since 2009. Follow him on Twitter: @ByTCCameron.
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