'It was his life. It was their life.'

Tommy Ruis and his family moved in across the street from the LaFleurs in 1987. Tommy's father, Rich, had relocated the family from Ludington, the small town that houses the S.S. Badger ferry to Wisconsin, due to a job opportunity in Mount Pleasant.

There were no cell phones or Facebook accounts back then. Social media in the 1980s and early '90s consisted of whatever kids in the neighborhood were within the radius of a bike ride.

Tommy had two older sisters but no brothers. Having Matt across the street was a gift from the sports gods for Tommy.

The setup was perfect. The LaFleurs had a basketball hoop, the Ruises had a swimming pool, and their fronts yards adjoined perfectly for whiffle ball games – home plate in the LaFleurs' driveway and any shot across the street to the Ruises signified a home run.

With Tommy only a year older than Matt, the two families also grew close. They went to Pistons, Tigers and Lions games together and had open-door policies with their houses – and the boys were over constantly to play the "John Madden Football" video game, trade baseball cards and just hang out.

The two played in the small youth league for baseball and traveled together on the AAU basketball circuit, but the one curious thing about Mount Pleasant was there was no organized youth football program – at least until Denny established it years later in time for his younger son, Mike, to participate in.

That required Matt, Tommy and their friends to get creative. So they'd pull together eight or nine guys and play pick-up games at the school. Even at that young age, it was obvious Matt was going to be a quarterback – and a good one at that.

In their formative years, Matt and Tommy grew accustomed to being with the CMU football players, who constantly were around the house. Some even came over to swim at the Ruis house.

Kristi occasionally brought Matt and Tommy to practice at CMU, and due to the hectic in-season schedule, that might be the only time Matt saw his dad throughout the day.

"It was his life. It was their life," said Ruis, 39, now a banker in Lansing. "They lived and died football. It's what they breathed. It's what they did. It was a unique, unique experience."

In the summer, CMU hosted a regional camp for Michigan youth football players. The school would welcome around 500 kids, splitting them between young players (seventh grade through ninth) and older (sophomores to seniors).

Denny was tasked with running the younger camp at the beginning, which typically lasted four days. Of course, Matt tagged along and stayed with Denny despite the fact he was only entering sixth grade at the time.

While his father worked with defensive backs or linebackers, Matt snuck over to the quarterback drills. By the time the day ended at 3 p.m., Matt was throwing passes to the older camp participants and the college volunteers.

There also was this one activity at the camp called the "Air Force League." It was a quasi-Rugby game where players could pass the ball at any time – forward, backwards, whatever – with six or seven boys on each team. It was tough and competitive.

Sure enough, Matt found his way into that, too.