At Pleasant Grove High School just outside Sacramento, Calif., Joe Cattolico helped groom Arik Armstead into a five-star prospect.
The coach and his pupil remained tight throughout the defensive lineman's standout career at Oregon. So when Armstead hosted a draft party last week for those closest to him, Cattolico made sure to attend.
To learn more about the San Francisco 49ers first-round pick and his upbringing, we recently tracked down Cattolico for a phone interview.
The coach's question-and-answer session included some funny anecdotes about Armstead trying to fit into a normal-sized classroom and the dominate fashion in which he handled opposing players.