Michels attended La Jolla High School, where he was a three time letterman in football, basketball, and track.
Michels played college football at the University of Southern California and was a First-team All-Pac-10 and a Second-team All-American offensive tackle, after being converted from a defensive end.
[4] When then-starter and fellow Trojan Ken Ruettgers went down with a knee injury, Michels took over the left tackle duties.
Unable to recover from his knee injury, he struggled in training camp in 1999 and was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for defensive end Jon Harris.
In 2008 Michels received his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.