Cato June - College Career

College Career

June played college football at the University of Michigan, where he switched from cornerback to play safety and wear the #2 jersey that had previously been worn by 1997 Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson. As a defensive back at Michigan, June's head coach, Lloyd Carr, was the former coach for the position. He redshirted as a freshman during the 1998 season for the 1998 Wolverines. During his 1999 season as a redshirt freshmen for the 1999 Wolverines, he intercepted a pass in his second game, which he returned for 29 yards to the 16-yard line. That season he played all twelve games and started the final four games at free safety. As the season progressed, he became involved in several big plays. He recovered a fumble on October 23 against Illinois. In the following game against Indiana on October 30, he blocked a punt and recovered the football, which led to a touchdown on the following play. He earned his first start on November 6 against Northwestern and sacked the quarterback to take the Wildcats out of field goal range. On November 13 against Penn State, he forced a fumble near midfield, which led to a Michigan scoring drive. Although he had earned a starting position, his pass defense coverage had not yet earned respect. In his best performance of the season, before a record-setting crowd of 111,575 at Michigan Stadium, he recorded a team-high 10 (7 solo) of his 27 tackles in a 24–17 victory in the rivalry game against Ohio State on November 20, 1999. June also recovered a fumble to set up a scoring drive for the final Michigan touchdown. The season ended in an overtime victory against Alabama in the 2000 Orange Bowl.

During the summer before his 2000 season as a redshirt sophomore for the 2000 Wolverines when he was expected to challenge for the starting strong safety position, he suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee that required reconstructive surgery. He spent the season in rehabilitation with two other teammates who had knee injuries and was unable to run for six months. His absence at the safety position caused Fargas to switch from running back to safety that season. Before returning to football, he was involved in a public altercation in spring 2001. During the altercation, a Michigan teammate was identified as having punched someone in the face, and June was charged with failing to obey an officer's order for refusing to leave the scene.

The 2001 Michigan Wolverines football team lost several key offensive components from the previous season when Anthony Thomas and David Terrell joined the Chicago Bears of the NFL and Drew Henson was drafted by the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. The 2001 team lost a total of nine starters for the 2001 season but returned eight defensive starters, and June was a welcome addition to a lineup. In the second game of the season, June was called for a questionable roughing the passer penalty against Washington that allowed the Huskies to score a field goal to reduce the Wolverines' lead to 23–12 in the fourth quarter. A few weeks later, he had a career-high two sacks in a 45–20 victory against Illinois on September 29. The following week, on October 6, he had an interception in a shutout of Penn State. June had been starting at free safety, but the Penn State game marked his first start at strong safety because of an injury to Julius Curry. On October 13, he led the team in tackles with seven, including a sack, against Purdue in a game that left the team as the only Big Ten team with an undefeated conference record. In the next game, his fourth quarter interception led to a comeback victory against Iowa to stay unbeaten in conference. In the following game on November 3 against Michigan State, Michigan's conference record fell to 4–1 as June left the game with another injury to his right knee. June started all but one game and finished the season fourth on the team in tackles.

In his senior season for the 2002 Wolverines, one of June's notable performances was his individual effort to stop a bootleg play against Notre Dame on September 14, which forced a change of possession to give Michigan the ball with just over two minutes remaining. On September 28 against Illinois, he had a sack and made a notable lead block on the interception return of a fellow defensive back. In the October 12 victory over Penn State, he made a key defensive play that almost resulted in an interception as part of an overtime goal line stand to hold Penn State to a field goal. In the 23–21 victory over Purdue on October 19, he recovered the final onside kick by Purdue. A collision on October 26 in a game with Iowa halted play for ten minutes while June received medical attention after leaving the game on a stretcher. At the time, he had movement in his extremities. He was hospitalized after the incident, but was released from the hospital the following morning. June was sidelined for the Michigan – Michigan State Paul Bunyan Trophy game against Michigan State on November 2, but participated in two plays during the subsequent Michigan–Minnesota Little Brown Jug game against Minnesota on November 9. June was healthy in time for the 2003 Outback Bowl against Florida, where he recorded a season-high nine tackles. Over the course of the season, June had 36 tackles, 17 assists, four tackles for loss, and two sacks. He had 102 career tackles and 36 career assists, 10 tackles for loss, and six sacks.

June was selected as an honorable mention All-Big Ten performer by both the coaches and the media, despite his late season injury. He was also selected to play in the 2003 Senior Bowl along with Hobson, B.J. Askew and Joppru. At the 2003 NFL Scouting Combine, June ran the slowest 40-yard dash (4.68 seconds) of all the free safeties. June was one of six Wolverines drafted in the 2003 NFL Draft and the first Michigan safety drafted since Corwin Brown in the 1993 NFL Draft.