Mike Kerrigan

He set Northwestern's single-season records for completions (173) and passing yards (1816) during his junior year.

He was named an Eastern Division All-Star by the Football Reporters of Canada and led the Ti-Cats to a 39–15 upset victory over the 12-point favourite Edmonton Eskimos in the 74th Grey Cup.

He was named the game's most valuable offensive player.

Michael Joseph Kerrigan (born April 27, 1960) is an American former professional gridiron football quarterback.

Kerrigan played high school football at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago.

He was recruited by Yale, Weber State, and Utah, but opted to attend Northwestern as a walk-on.

After sitting his entire freshman season, Kerrigan became the team's starting quarterback the second game of his sophomore season.

In his first ever college game, Kerrigan led Northwestern to a 27-22 victory over Wyoming.

Kerrigan was awarded a scholarship following the game.

This would be the only victory for Kerrigan in his college career as the Wildcats lost their next 32 games - an NCAA Division I record.

It was Hamilton's first Grey Cup title since 1972, and their first win over Edmonton since 1977.

In the 77th Grey Cup, he completed 23 of 35 passes for 303 yards and tied the game with 34 seconds left with a touchdown pass to Tony Champion.

However, the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the game 43–40 on a last second field goal.

As he did not play his freshman year, Kerrigan was eligible to return for the 1982 season, however coach Dennis Green wanted to go in a different direction at quarterback, so Kerrigan opted to try professional football.

In his three seasons as Northwestern's quarterback, Kerrigan attempted 379 of 797 passes for 4094 yards, and threw 23 touchdowns and 47 interceptions.

Kerrigan went undrafted in 1982, however, at the urging of director of player development Dick Steinberg, the New England Patriots signed Kerrigan as an undrafted free agent.

He beat out Steve Sandon and Lou Pagley for the third-string quarterback position.

He made the team again in 1983 and saw his first professional action on December 19, 1983, replacing Tony Eason during the fourth quarter of the season finale against the Seattle Seahawks.

He went 6 for 14 for 72 yards with an interception and rushed once for 14 yards in a 24–6 loss.

He was cut following the 1984 preseason and tried out for the Los Angeles Rams and the Edmonton Eskimos before returning to the Patriots following an injury to Eason.

When Eason returned three weeks later, Kerrigan was released again.

When Raymond Berry took over as head coach later that season, he decided to add a third quarterback and brought back Kerrigan.

Kerrigan appeared in one game versus Indianapolis, completing one pass for 13 yards, leading the offense on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive.

He was released by the Patriots on June 20, 1985.

In 1986, Kerrigan signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and competed with Tom Porras, Mark Casale, and Wilson Fraylon for the backup quarterback job.

He won the second-string job and replaced Ken Hobart as starter in the team's fifth game of the year.

Both Kerrigan and Hobart missed much of the 1987 due to injury, which led to Tom Porras receiving the most of the playing time that year.

Kerrigan entered the 1988 season in a competition with Hobart, Porras, and rookie Terry Andrysiak.

The Ti-Cats opted to release Hobart and have Kerrigan and Porras split time as starter.

On October 1, Kerrigan separated his shoulder and missed the rest of the season.

Although he missed the last six games, Kerrigan finished fourth in the league in passing yards (2,764) and second in completion percentage (55%).

The team struggled without Kerrigan and Porras was released after the season, which allowed Kerrigan to enter the 1989 season without competition for the starting job.

He completed 248 of 486 passes for 3,635 yards and 20 touchdowns, ranking him fourth among CFL quarterbacks.

He again led the Tiger-Cats to the league championship.

Kerrigan struggled in 1990 and was benched in favor of backup Todd Dillon shortly into the 1991 season.

On May 9, 1992, The Tiger-Cats signed Damon Allen, ending Kerrigan's first stint in Hamilton.

On June 4, 1992, Kerrigan signed with the Toronto Argonauts.

He was signed by Toronto general manager Mike McCarthy, who had also brought Kerrigan to Hamilton when he was the Tiger-Cats director of player personnel.

Kerrigan began the season as a third-string quarterback behind Rickey Foggie and John Congemi.

On August 27, Kerrigan came off the bench to lead Toronto to a 24 to 16 comeback victory over the Ottawa Rough Riders.