Biggest Sleeper In 2013 Draft: Mike Catapano, DE, Princeton
 

Mike Catapano 6'4" and a "lean" 275 lbs runs a 4.65 40 (with a 7 foot wingspan to boot) and has had a MONSTER senior season with 12 sacks, 15.5 TFL, 3 FF and 6 passes batted down in only 10 games!

Catapano is 2012 Bushnell Cup Winner for Ivy League Defensive Player Of The Year...and a SUPER athlete, especially for his size! If you are unfamiliar with him or haven't looked closely enough check out Catapano who has an invite to the East West Shrine Game on Jan 19th in Fla.

Catapano trains year round doing MMA training and this past off season worked with NFL All Pro Chuck Smith at his pass rushing training center in Georgia....Smith who trained Osi Unenyiora and other great NFL pass rushers says Catapano will take a backseat to NOBODY in this year's draft...HUGE sleeper!
from his twitter account:
Chuck Smith NFL @chucksmithnfl.
I've trained a lot of great Dl/LB/OLB, Mike Catapano wont take a back seat to anyone in this years Draft! He will be special!

Catapano's coach at Princeton Bob Surace compared him to NFL All Pro Justin Smith whom he coached while with the Cincinnati Bengals...high praise indeed. Look for Catapano to turn heads at the East West Shrine Game and continue to quickly rise up the draft boards. Future NFL star here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GcdKCG5F8Q

What really impresses me in watching game film and watching his training here at Chuck Smith's camp this past off season is his get off...super fast and explosive for a guy his size. A very lean long and athletic 275 lbs pass rusher...scouts have said his run stopping ability has always been stout but he dropped from 290 lbs down into the low 270s for his senior year and his pass rushing went to a whole new level....this is an super exciting sleeper prospect here...keep an eye on this kidhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyocdm4R354

he's on a different level than his competition, that's for sure.

You have me intrigued

Wonder if he would do well as a SLB in 34 defense.

Yep agreed...it will be interesting to see him perform at the EW Shrine Game against other NFL level guys...if you look at that 2012 highlight tape at 2:45 Catapano is going against Senior Bowl invite JC Tretter from Cornell and really manhandles him, draws a penalty by Tretter and sacks the QB anyway...obviously I defer to Chuck Smith in assessing pass rush talent but this kid seems legit.

So are you Mike Catapano, related to Catapano, friends with Catapano, or will financially gain from Catapano being drafted? Just curious as your first day here has been a Catapano hypefest. We had somebody associated with Blaine Gabbert going overboard a few years ago on this board with hyping him. Disclosure is appreciated and encouraged.

That aside, Catapano looks like a very interesting prospect and I look forward to hearing more about him. I like smart kids that are under the radar.

I was thinking the same thing.

NFL Draft scout has him listed as a UDFA (19th best DE).

I imagine when the underwear olympics starts, he will jump ~10 spots.

thought this was going to be a sleeper thread as opposed to a lovefest.

My top sleeper is Kyle Long of Oregon (your favorite school). Long would have been a top offensive lineman had he settled on football out of hs instead of baseball. he's a steal anywhere after the first round.

I am a friend who has watched his career evolve from a top#15 nationally ranked high school 225 lbs fullback to a converted 275 lbs DE in College who went from a great run stopper and good pass rusher to an AWESOME pass rusher and Ivy Player Of The Year averaging 1.2 sacks a game in his senior year after seeking out outside help of NFL All Pro Pass Rushing Specialist in off season as well as doing off season MMA training with a Kickboxing World Champion to continue improving in athleticism....things the average player doesn't typically do and found the extra effort very interesting.

Completely understandable....I am friend of Catapano. He is from near where I live on long island and I know his family. Good kid, nice family. There was basically zero talk about him on the boards here on this site despite him being an awesome prospect (don't just take my word on it but rather ask anyone who coached him, coached against him, or has trained around him...that includes a guy who is a former NFL Pro Bowl Player who trained him this past off season and who played alongside Reggie White and coached NFL Pro Bowl players like Osi Umenyiora, Albert Hanesworth and many others in Chuck Smith...see attached youtube video....his opinion and opposing coaches opinions matter more than mine)

Catapano is as much of an animal on the field as he is a gentleman off the field...so I figured why not point out the guy I feel IS actually the biggest sleeper in the upcoming draft. If I'm wrong call me an idiot in April...but I'm not. Small school guys need the exposure more, especially someone who is as talented and unknown as this guy. On one of the other main draft board sites in one month Catapano has jumped from #38 ranked DE to #19 and will continue to rise. Check him out in the upcoming East West Shrine game practice week and in the game and see for yourself. (video clip #1 has about Chuck Smith and video #2 is what his coach and opposing coaches and an opposing QB who won Ivy League Offensive Player of the year have to say about Catapano)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtPaf...e&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bi73FbO_54

ya he was #38 a month ago...so he moved up 19 spots in one month!....thats what a sleeper is....someone who a lot of people don't know about yet :njx:

love fest? Look if I had something bad to tell you I would.....but fact is the only bad thing i can say is that he hasn't faced lineman from big FBS schools yet....but he will on Jan 19th. Just telling you who the guy is since obviously most people don't know. So check him out, put him on the radar....thats all =)

I don't know whether to imagine you speaking like a tough, Chicago grunt or like the wacky, flailing, inflatable tube man from Family Guy. Either way, I like it.

Those Long Island guys are pretty tough, just ask them.

I hope the kid succeeds. There's nothing wrong with adding a little much needed brain power to the league.

Good stuff. Thanks for the info and keep us updated on his progress.

I will do that =) My guess is that he goes as a mid round pick...tough getting drafted from Ivy League no matter how talented, but all the measurables are there besides going against top FBS guys...but Shrine game invite should be a good test and indicator. If Chuck Smith is right then he should impress people that week in St. Petersburg. Wasn't really blockable in the Ivy League. Obviously a different talent level at Shrine Game though. So we'll see.

Catapano will be wearing #77 on the East Team in the EW Shrine Game on Jan 19th. Televised on NFL Network. He has been training at Parisi Speed School in NJ with Martin Rooney. Catapano should impress during practice week and in game. Check him out.

Going to post another player who seems to be a sleeper at defensive end, who I came across researching prospects for the forum fantasy mock draft. I took him near the end of the 5th round. Malliciah Goodman has a very limited repertoire of moves, but he is huge, athletic and if is capable of overpowering blockers. I'd love to see what he could do if he uses his hands better. He already is very quick off the snap, is strong, has incredibly long arms, and despite his great size is very good and getting his hips low and impacting the offensive tackles below their pads and getting underneath them. He plays with good leverage.

Start at 33 seconds in. Top of the screen, number 97.



0:35 below is another example.



And he looked excellent vs. LSU in their bowl game:

Seen Clemson 7 times this year and watched Goodman carefully in all. Didn't think he was playing that well early in the year - slow twitch and struggled. Played better and better as the season went on - without really lighting it up - until the Bowl game! I see NFL Draft Scout has moved him from outside their top 150 to number 86 in the last week or so. Now he's shown what he can really do, teams just have to figure out why he didn't play like that all year.

Did this Catapano guy ever drop into coverage or was he strictly a down lineman? I'm curious how 3-4 teams will view him. Is he a country-strong white guy that can excel as a 5 tech like Justin Smith and JJ Watt? Or can he drop weight and use his athleticism to get after the QB as a rush OLB?

If he runs a 4.65 forty at 270lbs, why would he need to cut weight even more? Why couldn't he be a rush LB at 270? If anything, he'd have to gain weight if he wanted to play the DE in a 3-4.

Color me intrigued. Saints could use a guy like this but he reminds me some of Junior Galette, just a little bigger.

Can you say PEDs??
Not like he's the only one, but I wonder if his tools are going to hold up at the NFL level.

Need to see him in an allstar game against big time competition.