Former Flyer Drafted by Kansas City Chiefs

Mike Catapano looks nothing like his nickname “Drago” – the towering 6’5”, 250 pound, blue-eyed product of Russian science with platinum blonde hair that defies gravity in Rocky IV portrayed by Dolph Lundgren. At 6’4” and 270 pounds, the Chaminade High School graduate gets by with his common brown eyes and hair that receeds a bit at his temples, probably a result of it being cropped a bit too short.

Then again there is the matter of that extremely square jawline, which led to the coaching staff bestowing the moniker.

Oh, and he can hit you hard too.

A Flyer of the Class of 2009, Catapano had played defensive end for Princeton, a three-time All-Ivy player, the 2012 defensive player of the year for the Ivy League, raking up 12 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss and making the Tigers the third-best scoring defense last year, helping produce the school’s first winning season since 2006.

Still, despite being so highly-touted and a laundry-list of achievements, the NFL was not knocking down his door, the perception in the Ivy schools having lower competition than other school conferences. He was not invited to a scouting combine and held individual workouts in front of scouts from the Vikings and Eagles at Princeton’s Pro Day in March. Sunday he took the next step, being named as the first pick of the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft and will don the uniform of the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2013 season.

The Bayville native becomes the first Princeton graduate to be drafted in 12 years. “I think I was naïve,” Catapano said in an interview with the New York Times. “I didn’t see why I couldn’t go to Princeton and go to the NFL That was always in the plan: I’m going to go to Princeton and go to the NFL I was always very ambitious. I didn’t see the issue there. Looking back at it, it was not the easiest road to take.” Catapano’s mother Barbara had started him on that long road when he was eight as a confidence booster when, even as one of the larger kids, he was the victim of bullying.

When he entered Chaminade, Catapano, then 6’3” and 215 pounds, was under the tutelage of coach Bill Basel as a running back. He had underwent several shoulder operations his senior year, dropping him out from Division I schools, but Princeton took him as a DL, a position in which he had no experience.

Now after going as the 207th pick overall, Catapano will be in at linebacker, a place that will play to his pass-rushing ability.

Catapano is not alone in being a current Flyer alumn in the professional football ranks, as Greg Van Roten played as a member of the Green Bay Packers in 2012, getting his first start as a guard down the stretch last year. Even more interesting, the Chiefs are set to host the Packers in a preseason game on August 29, setting up the possibility that both Van Roten and Catapano might be on the field at the same time on a play.

“It’s been such a long road and to be taken by such a historic franchise in Kansas City,” he said on the Chiefs’ official website about being drafted. “I can’t even put it into words right now honestly, I’m on cloud nine.”

Or maybe just standing atop a snow-covered mountain, raising his arms and shouting his nickname that he’s finally made it.