Football ‘Worlds’ to prepare MHS graduate for UFL
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
For DJ Catalano, the month of July will truly be a chance to show the world what he can do on the football field.
The Montgomery High graduate of one of 45 players that have been selected to play for the United States 2011 Men’s National Team in the IFAF Senior World Championships, which will be held July 8-16 in Austria. Games will be played in Graz, Innsbruck and Vienna. Team USA defeated Japan, 23-20, in double overtime in Tokyo, Japan, to win the 2007 tournament, the first that included the United States.
Catalano departs Monday for training camp at Wabash College in Indiana then on July 4 heads to Munich and then to Austria. The schedule will be demanding, as the team will play three games in five days, beginning July 8 against Australia. The championship game will be July 16 in Vienna.
”It will be a little different,” said Catalano, who graduated from Northern Michigan University, where he was a standout defensive lineman. “That is where it will be different trying to heal your body and then have just one day of rest. And also watching film is usually a whole week to prepare and we’ll have one day, so that will be different.”
The trip to play in the World Games is just the start of a busy month for Catalano. When he returns to the United States he will head straight to Sacramento, where he has earned an invitation to the training camp of the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League.
It will make for a busy month of July on the football field, but one that could jump-start Catalano’s professional career.
”For Team USA, our defensive coordinator’s son played four years ago so he told me about it and asked if I would be interested,” Catalono said. “I had to fill out an application, write an essay and send in game film. I got a call from Lou Tepper, the defensive coordinator, and he said he loved what he saw and he had to look at some more film. The he called me back and said I was in.
”The UFL was an open tryout. I was online trying to find open tryout days. I had been accepted to Team USA and almost didn’t go to it. I figured I would go to Team USA and get some film and find a roster spot somewhere off of that. But then I figured I would do one more trying to get lucky and I did.”
It didn’t take long for Catalano to impress the Mountain Lions coaching staff, led by head coach Dennis Green.
”After they timed me in the 20, they started talking and had me doing drills,” Catalano said. “I knew they would sign me by all the attention they had given me. Right after the tryout Coach Green came up to me and my dad and offered a contract.”
So now Catalano will be piling up time on the football field as well as frequent flier miles. He will need to be in Sacramento one day after returning from Austria.
”I have been working out hard putting my body through something I feel would be similar,” he said. “Obviously, injuries happen and you hope you don’t get injured. Mostly the way I have been thinking is that this is a good opportunity to get the rust off and be in pads so that by the time I get to Sacramento I will be used to it.
”I still have to go to training camp and compete. There are 12 other defensive linemen on the roster and I feel like I have as a good a shot as anyone. I’ve talked to the defensive line coach and defensive coordinator to see what they expect out of me. I’ve and working out in Morris Plains at the Parisi Speed School.”
Catalano’s hope is that the experience of playing in the World Games followed by a season in the UFL will give him the exposure he would need for an eventual shot in the National Football League.
”The UFL has five teams and 50 guys on the game day roster, so 250 players once the season gets started,” Catalano said. “After last season, 89 signed contracts. So a lot of the guys get a shot. Dante Culpepper is our quarterback. I am one of the few on the roster without NFL experience so a lot of them have been in the league and are trying to get back in the NFL. My agent is telling me UFL is one step under so I look at it as AAA football. That is how I explain it to people who ask me about it.”
Catalano has been spending time in Montgomery before he heads off to Austria. It has given him a chance to catch up with some of his old coaches and teammates.
”I saw some of my old coaches and they wished me congratulations and are supportive,” Catalano said. “Coach (Zoran) Milich is the one who got me into college. I was at Monmouth for one year and they didn’t have my major and I wanted to be a little further away. I transfer to Division 2 so didn’t have to sit out a year.
”Coach (Cory) Delgado knew one of the coaches at Northern Michigan and felt like I could play. It was a great experience. I played in a dome right on Lake Superior.”
Next, Catalano will be playing in Europe against the likes of Australia, Germany and Mexico. It will be another great experience to add to his career.
”We are going in there to win,” Catalano said. “I was surprised by the talent level of the other countries. The Canada team is all CFL guys. Europe has guys from NFL Europe. I was looking at the rosters to see what the competition was like and I am excited for it because I get to go up against some good competition and it will be a good test.”