Cato-Bishop is Two Sport Star
Choosing a college or university can be a hard decision for any student athlete. They have to take into account the location of the school, number of students, academic programs, their relationship with the coach, the style of play, the amount of potential playing time, the quality of the facilities, the school’s commitment to winning, and many other factors. But for one local stand-out the decision is even more complicated than that. Darryl Cato-Bishop will have to decide if he wants to play basketball or football in college.
The fact that he will have scholarship offers in both sports is almost a foregone conclusion. While he has a longer history playing the game of basketball, his family has a longer history in the game of football, stemming back to when his father, Darryl Bishop Sr., was the first African American to earn a football scholarship at the University of Kentucky.
Ironically what makes Cato-Bishop so successful on the basketball court is the same thing that brings him similar results on the gridiron…his size, strength, physicality, and hard-working approach to the game.
To say it plainly, the kid is a flat out winner. Regardless of the game, you can pretty much guarantee that he will outwork the competition and do whatever is necessary for his team to earn the victory.
“I’ve always had that approach to the game,” Cato-Bishop told the New England Recruiting Report. “It’s primarily because of my dad. He always taught me that if I ever wanted to get anywhere in life I had to put my all into it.”
Just from talking to Cato-Bishop, it is immediately evident to see how proud he is to be his father’s son. He talks about how his father made history at Kentucky, played in the NFL, and never accepted anything less than 100% from his son.
So while many players in Cato-Bishop’s position would likely try and find a college where they could play both sports, it is no surprise that he wants to chose only one so that neither gets cheated.
“I really just want to choose one,” he said. “I want to play at the highest level and I probably won’t be able to do that if I’m trying to play two sports.”
Basketball has been a big part of Cato-Bishop’s life for a long time as he has run with the prestigious Boston Amateur Basketball Club and most recently starred at Lawrence Academy. It wasn’t until his freshman year that he tried football, but he has shown himself to be a star in the making in the short time he has been on the field.
“I’m really not sure which one I want to play yet,” he said. “I definitely have more recruiting interest in basketball right now, but the football coaches are starting to come on strong too.”
Whichever sport he plays, you can bet the program that lands him will become more successful just by adding a player of Cato-Bishop’s character. There are few others his age who understand what it means to really compete like he does.
Darryl Cato-Bishop