Three weeks before the NFL league year officially opens on March 16th, the Colts have hired their assistant Linebackers coach in the form of former Super Bowl Champion from the 2006 Indianapolis coach, Cato June. June, who spent last year as the Linebackers coach for Bowling Green University, is now headed back to Indy where he helped lead the Colts to a Super Bowl Victory over the Chicago Bears in 2006.
Cato June Drafted in the 6th round at 198th overall in the 2003 NFL Draft, the former Michigan Wolverine was selected by the Indianapolis Colts whom he played 4 of his 7 NFL seasons with. June was, in my mind, one of the unsung heroes of that 2006 Superbowl run, although being what some experts would call undersized for the position, Cato June had an innate ability to use his speed and awareness to, not only blitz off the edge or through tight gaps and make clutch tackles for loss, but also was able to seemingly always be in the right place at the right time to either bat the ball away or get an interception. Cato June would eventually earn honors of 2nd Team All-Pro, and Pro Bowl for the only time in his career in the 2005 season. In the Colts’ 2006 run to become Super Bowl Champions for the first time in their Indianapolis history, June had arguably one of his best defensive seasons with the Colts, posting stats of 3 Interceptions, 1 Forced Fumble, 142 combined tackles, 96 of which were solo tackles, and 6 tackles for a loss.
If you were to look at film of Cato June through all his years in the league you will see that this was a player who was disciplined, always hitting his gaps, dropping into coverage, and always keeping an eye on both the Quarterback and the Offensive Linemen in order to sniff out and know exactly what the offense was trying to do and get to the right spot at the right time with ease. All these traits I know will be based on from him to the likes of Darius Leonard, Bobby Okereke, and Zaire Franklin.
After leaving the Colts, Cato June would finish up his NFL career with 2 seasons in Tampa Bay before finally ending after the 2009 season with the Chicago Bears, June finished his NFL career with 499 Total Tackles, 1 Sack, 3 Forced Fumbles, 3 Fumble Recoveries, 12 Interceptions to go along with 2 Defensive Touchdowns. After his playing career was done he would return to his High School Alma Mater of Anacostia High School in the District of Colombia where he would serve as defensive coordinator in 2011 before being named head coach from 2012-2014. His High School coaching career ended after the 2015 season with Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland. From 2016-2019 June was hired as the running backs coach and assistant recruiting coordinator for Howard University before serving one year each as the Outside Linebackers coach at both UMass and Bowling Green.
June will undoubtedly, along with Ron Milus and Gus Bradley, help turn an already Top-10 Colts defense into a Top-5 or maybe even the top defense in the entire NFL. I am very excited for this hire, Cato June was one of my favorite Colts players growing up, and I can’t wait to see the work he does now that hes back with the Indianapolis Colts.
