“YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE A MINDSET in football, no matter what,” says Micahi Danzy. “I don’t want to lose in football.” And that, he explains, is why he has what it takes to flourish in the 400. “That’s where I get my mental toughness from.”
The 19-year-old Florida State wide receiver stunned many when he produced the fastest collegiate performance of the year in capturing the ACC 400 crown in 44.38, making him the seventh-fastest Junior ever. Every athlete ahead of Danzy on the U20 ATL reached the Olympics, two won 400 gold.
“I wasn’t really thinking about time. I just wanted to get around the track, get points for my team. Coming off the curve, I’m like, ‘Dang, I don’t even feel that tired. I’ve got a lot more in me.’ It was pretty surprising to me.”
Then he saw the time: “It took me a while. I was kind of shocked, but I wasn’t shocked. The way I felt before the race, my body was just the best it ever felt.”
Danzy — he pronounces his first name “mik-HIGH”— had been training with the track team since December. He placed 3rd in the ACC Indoor at 46.06, then took most of March off for spring football. He returned with a 46.03 at the end of the month, then he hit a PR 45.41 in his next meet. The day after he turned 19 (May 02), he improved again, to 45.00.
As much as the world may have been surprised by his 1-lap breakthrough in Winston-Salem, plenty of folks in Tallahassee weren’t. “Nobody really was because coming out of high school, they saw how serious I took track,” he says. “None of my coaches were surprised I ran this.”
Says Seminole sprints coach Ricky Argro, “I’ve tried this entire year with coaching him to not put any barriers on him. I think the sky’s the limit for him in regards to what he could potentially do and obviously what he could accomplish in not just this sport but in both sports.”
Danzy is a hometown product, a graduate of the Florida State University school, Florida High. In 9th grade, he hit 49.86, improving all the way to 47.19 as a soph in placing 2nd at the Class 2A state finals. As a junior, he won state in the 200 (21.16) and 400 (46.11) and placed 3rd in the long jump at 22-9¾ (6.95). In the postseason he placed 3rd at New Balance — 0.03 behind AOY Quincy Wilson — before running 45.99 at a JO regional.
His senior year caught a late start. A bad thigh injury in football led to surgery and a delay in his training. “I wouldn’t say it was tough, because of the mindset I had. I always had a tough mindset like, ‘I’m going to go after this.’ When I recovered, I was all green and ready to go.”
He defended his state crowns at 20.88 and 45.88, placed 3rd in the long jump again (22-8/6.91), and added the 100 to the mix with a runner-up finish in 10.68. Then he decided to bypass summer track.
“I had to focus on football because I had to learn the new playbook. I had to earn my position [at Florida State]. That’s why I shut the track down early.”
The 6-1/189 (1.85/85) Danzy played in four games for the Seminoles as a running back, totaling 5y in two carries and grabbing a reception for 38y. At the end of the season, the gridiron coaches decided to make him a wide receiver. He will still have four years of football eligibility.
Danzy says that despite his promise at football, track is an essential component in his DNA. “I grew up running track and traveling with my friends. It’s just like the team thing,” he says. “That’s where most of my friends come from, track. So track has a special spot in my heart because I just grew up on it. That’s really what it is.”
He feels strongly that his spring sport makes him a better football player. “It makes my legs stronger. It’s less likely for me to have a hamstring injury in football because it’s not like a change in speed or something, like coming off break and then you got to run full speed for football. I’ve been running full speed since December. My body’s already in shape to run full speed in football. It’s not a hard adjustment for me.”
Neither was choosing Florida State difficult, Danzy says. “It felt more like home,” he says. “I took the aspect of me just being home out of my recruitment because I didn’t want to be biased to other schools [LSU & Auburn also made 2-sport pitches to him].
“But the way they treated me, they were serious about me doing both sports. It was home. The coaches, they treat me like they treat their own kids. It does feel like home.”
Says Argro, “He’s the type of kid that any coach would love to have. Whatever you ask him to do, it’s, ‘Yes, sir.’”
The hard part about doing two sports is not just that Danzy gets no offseason. He says, “It’s definitely keeping up with school. That’s probably the toughest thing for me because I’ve got to maintain my body, practice, study for my plays in football, and do classwork. I feel like school is the toughest thing for me right now. But as I move on, it’s getting easier.”
He says that we won’t see him racing at the USATF meet this summer. “I’m going to NCAAs. With the new position change and new playbook, I’ve got to focus on football. I told football that I’m shutting it down there, so I’m being a man of my word and shutting it down after Nationals.”
Does he have it in him this season to run faster than his 44.38? He hesitates and says, “Honestly, through this year, I don’t know. I didn’t know what I was going to run [at ACC]. I just trust my coach’s coaching.
“My body is surprising me with what I’m doing right now. I’m just doing this through the faith of God. So if I run a 43, it’s like before where I wouldn’t be surprised if I do.”
Says Argro, “He’s the type of guy, he’s going to run as fast as the people that are around him because of his competitive spirit. Whether it’s the ACC championship or whether it’s the Olympic finals down the line, he’s the type of person, he’s just going to compete. You line him up with seven other individuals and you’re going to have a very, very hard time beating him because his competitive nature is one of the best I’ve seen.”
Another huge part of Danzy’s breakthrough is his devotion to his team, whether it’s on the track or the gridiron. “When I first came here, I’m not a talkative guy, so for me to talk to you, I’ve got to be real comfortable. But they treated me like family when I first got here.
“Coach Argro, you know, he made doing this so much easier because I could talk to him, and he won’t be stressed with me, and it’s not hard to talk to him when I’ve got something to tell him.
“He just helped with my mental, and I feel like I’m not running my times for myself, but for my teammates, especially for Brit [46.26 performer British Wilkerson]. He’s dealing with an injury right now, and I feel like I’m running for him, and I have another reason to run faster.”
More than anything, that sentiment sums up who Micahi Danzy is as a person. “I feel like I’ve been PRing because I’ve been running for my teammates — not for me — and my family, of course.” ◻︎
