Rakeem Cato

Last updated
Rakeem Cato
Cato12.png
Cato while at Marshall
Born: (1992-03-28) March 28, 1992 (age 31)
Liberty City, Florida, U.S.
Career information
CFL status American
Position(s) Quarterback
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight181 lb (82 kg)
College Marshall
High school Miami Central
(West Little River, Florida)
Career history
As player
2015–2016 Montreal Alouettes
2018 Richmond Roughriders
2019Gulf Coast Fire
2020–2022 Orlando Predators
2023 Fayetteville Mustangs
2023 Orlando Predators
Career highlights and awards
Career stats
Completion %68.5%
Passing yards3,570
TD – INT 17–11
Rushing TDs1

Rakeem Cato (born March 28, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Marshall and was the Thundering Herd's starting quarterback from 2011 to 2014. As a professional, he has played for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), Richmond Roughriders of the American Arena League (AAL), Gulf Coast Fire of the A-League, and Orlando Predators of the National Arena League (NAL).

Contents

Early years

Cato attended Miami Central High School in West Little River, Florida. During his career he passed for 9,412 yards with 103 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. He also holds numerous Miami-Dade County passing records. [1] [2]

College career

As a freshman in 2011, Cato completed 182 of 304 passes for 2,059 yards with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

As a sophomore in 2012, leading the nation in passing yards per game, he completed 406 of 584 passes for 4,201 yards with 37 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. With an outstanding season he won the Conference USA MVP. [3]

His 2013 season held much promise with Cato being placed on the 2013 Players to Watch by The Touchdown Club of Columbus, and early on was already in the running of the 2013 Sammy Baugh award. [4] Cato was also on the 2013 Maxwell Award watch list [5] along with the Manning Award watch list. [6] He ended the 2013 season with 39 touchdown passes, matching Chad Pennington's Marshall record for touchdown passes in a single season. [7] Cato was named MVP in the 2013 Military Bowl victory over Maryland. [8]

Cato returned as the starter his senior season in 2014. On October 18, 2014, Cato threw a touchdown pass in his 39th consecutive game, breaking Russell Wilson's FBS record for most consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass. [9] He finished the season with 3,903 yards, 40 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Cato finished his career with a school record 14,079 passing yards and 131 passing touchdowns.

Career statistics

SeasonGamesPassingRushing
GPGSCmpAttPctYdsTDIntLngY/GAttYdsAvgLngTDY/G
2011 131018230459.92,059151177158.457320.61102.5
2012 121240658469.54,201371172350.157310.52012.6
2013 141429849959.73,91639958279.7992943.023621.0
2014 141426745159.23,903401377278.8944825.163834.4
Totals [10] 53501,1531,83862.714,0791314477265.63078392.7631515.8

Professional career

A February 2015 draft ranking by Mel Kiper, Jr. rated him as the eighth best quarterback in the 2015 NFL draft. [11] NFLDraftScout.com rated him the 30th best quarterback in the draft. [12] Some thought that Cato's size would hurt his draft chances. [13] [14]

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeight 40-yard dash 10-yard split20-yard split Vertical jump Broad jump
6 ft 0+1⁄2 in
(1.84 m)		178 lb
(81 kg)		4.71 s1.64 s2.75 s34 in
(0.86 m)		9 ft 5 in
(2.87 m)
All values from Marshall Pro Day [12]

Despite an impressive college career, Cato went undrafted during the 2015 draft. On May 7, Cato was invited to a camp tryout with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL but was not signed. [15]

Montreal Alouettes

On May 16, 2015, Cato signed a two-year deal with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes. [16] He started his first game for the Alouettes on July 3 against the Calgary Stampeders after Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour sustained injuries in Week 1 against the Ottawa Redblacks. He threw a touchdown pass on his first drive as an Alouette. In the first half, Cato went 12–15 for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns. He continued in the second half with another touchdown scoring opening drive. Cato finished the game 20–25, 241 yards and 3 touchdowns for his first CFL win. For his efforts, Cato was named player of the game, with TSN analyst and Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback Matt Dunigan characterizing his performance as "phenomenal." [17] He was named Player of the Week by the league for his performance against Calgary. [18] Cato was one of three players chosen as Player of the Month for July in the CFL. [19] Cato played in 12 games in 2015 for the Alouettes, completing 174 out of 215 pass attempts (80%) with 9 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Cato began the 2016 season as the number two quarterback on the depth chart behind veteran Kevin Glenn. Through the first half of the season the Alouettes only won 3 games, which prompted head coach Jim Popp to declare Cato as the starting quarterback for their Week 12 matchup against the BC Lions. [20] In his first practice as the starting QB Cato and wide receiver Duron Carter got into a heated argument. [21] A little over a week later Cato once again got into a heated argument at practice with Carter, this time also involving wide receiver Kenny Stafford. [22] He was released by the Alouettes on February 6, 2017. [23]

Richmond Roughriders

Cato signed with the Richmond Roughriders of the American Arena League in November 2017. [24] After one game, Cato was cut from the team on March 27, 2018.

Gulf Coast Fire

On April 8, 2019 Cato signed with the Gulf Coast Fire of the A-League. He led the Gulf Coast Fire to an undefeated season and the inaugural A-League Championship.

Orlando Predators

On December 23, 2019 it was revealed that Cato had signed with the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League. The National Arena League cancelled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [25] [26] [27] On October 1, 2020, Cato re-signed with the Predators for the 2021 season. [28] However, on May 27, 2021, Cato refused to report to the Predators and didn't play a game for them in the 2021 season. On December 5, 2021, Cato re-signed with the Predators for the 2022 season. On July 13, 2022, Cato was released by the Predators. [29]

Fayetteville Mustangs

On November 6, 2022, Cato signed with the Fayetteville Mustangs of the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2023 season. [30]

Orlando Predators (second stint)

On June 30, 2023, Cato signed with the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League (NAL) for his second stint with the team. On August 9, 2023, Cato was indefinitely suspended by the NAL.

CFL career statistics

YearTeamGPPassingRushing
CmpAttPctYdsTDIntRtgAttYdsAvgLngTD
2015 MTL 1217425169.32,1679992.8261606.2191
2016 MTL 1812218167.41,39882100.7181598.8730
Total3029643268.63,570171196.1443347.4731

Personal life

Cato was raised in Liberty City, a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, by his mother Juannese, who worked two jobs to take care of her seven children. When Cato was thirteen, his mother died suddenly of pneumonia and his eighteen-year-old sister Shanrikia was granted custody of Cato and four other siblings. During his college career, Cato's father was released from prison, allowing Cato to meet him for the first time. [31] Cato is a father of two young girls. [32]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Oyola, James (10 November 2010). "Central's Rakeem Cato looks to cap dream season with Florida championship". MaxPreps.com. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  2. ↑ "UCF prepares to contain Marshall prolific passer Rakeem Cato". tribunedigital-orlandosentinel.
  3. ↑ "C-USA Announces Football Players of the Year". conferenceusa.com.
  4. ↑ "HERDZONE.COM :: Official Athletic Site of Marshall Thundering Herd :: Football". herdzone.com.
  5. ↑ "Clowney, Manziel, Miller part of preseason list of 76 for Maxwell Award - CollegeFootballTalk". nbcsports.com. 2013-07-08.
  6. ↑ "HERDZONE.COM :: Official Athletic Site of Marshall Thundering Herd :: Football". herdzone.com.
  7. ↑ "WV MetroNews – Cato matches Pennington's TD mark, earns bowl MVP". WV MetroNews. 2013-12-28.
  8. ↑ Prewitt, Alex (December 27, 2013). "Military Bowl: Marshall offense too much for Maryland in 31–20 victory". The Washington Post .
  9. ↑ "Rakeem Cato sets NCAA record". ESPN. October 18, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Rakeem Cato". ESPN.com.
  11. ↑ Kiper, Mel Jr. (February 17, 2015). "Top 10 NFL prospects by position". insider.espn.com. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Rakeem Cato". nfldraftscout.com. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  13. ↑ Polacek, Scott. "Rakeem Cato: Latest on Undrafted Free Agent After 2015 NFL Draft". bleacherreport.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ↑ Redd, Derek (April 29, 2015). "Will size dash Rakeem Cato's NFL draft chances?". wvgazettemail.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ↑ "Cato not signed by Cleveland Browns". The Herald-Dispatch . May 11, 2015.
  16. ↑ Traylor, Grant (May 16, 2015). "Cato signs to play in Canada". The Herald-Dispatch.
  17. ↑ "Cato opens strong for Alouettes". The Herald-Dispatch. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "Rakeem Cato joueur de la semaine dans la LCF". Radio-Canada (in French). 7 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Trevor Harris, Rakeem Cato and Marcus Howard named CFL's top players for July". Canada.com. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "Cato replaces Glenn as starting QB as Alouettes hope to reignite offence". 2016-09-05. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  21. ↑ "Cato replaces Glenn as starting QB as Alouettes hope to reignite offence". 2016-09-05. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  22. ↑ "Cato gets into altercation with Stafford, Carter at Als practice". 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  23. ↑ "Alouettes release QB Cato - Article - TSN". TSN. 2017-02-06. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  24. ↑ "Wednesday's regional sports roundup: New Kent's LaPrade, from Virginia Tech, named ACC Wrestler of Week; Hampton's Quillen gets Beamer's No. 25 for Tech's game at U.Va". dailypress.com. November 22, 2017. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  25. ↑ "Breaking News". Richmond Roughriders. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  26. ↑ "A-LEAGUE SPORTS ACQUIRES TARPONS, FOR NEW ARENA LEAGUE PLAY IN 2019". www.aleaguefootball.com. September 13, 2018.
  27. ↑ "A-League website". ALeagueFootball.com. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  28. ↑ "2021 NAL Transactions". nationalarenaleague.com.
  29. ↑ "2022 NAL Transactions". nationalarenaleague.com.
  30. ↑ "2023 NAL Transactions". nationalarenaleague.com.
  31. ↑ Feldman, Bruce (28 September 2014). "How Rakeem Cato became pride of Liberty City, Marshall's star QB". FOX Sports. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  32. ↑ "Cato shows it's all about family".
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