West Allegheny coach Bob Palko is in the process of putting together a highlight tape of Mike Caputo to send to colleges. Palko had hoped to keep the tape short, but it's turning into an hour-long feature film.
"You go through game tapes," Palko said, "and you find yourself always saying, 'Oh, that's a good play. I have to get that one. And that's a good play. And that's a good play.' You keep saying it over and over. Next thing you know, this highlight tape is more than 45 minutes long."
Caputo's season was one big highlight, and he caps it with winning the Post-Gazette Player of the Year award. Caputo, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior running back/outside linebacker at West Allegheny, was selected among all players in the WPIAL and City League.
Caputo is the third West Allegheny player to be named Player of the Year in the past nine seasons. Tyler Palko was Co-Player of the Year in 2001 with Woodland Hills' Steve Breaston. West Allegheny's Dorin Dickerson won the award in 2005.
Caputo had a tremendous season as a running back, rushing for 2,615 yards on 360 carries and scoring 34 touchdowns. He caught 10 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 30.8 yards on 13 kickoff returns and scored once.
But what put him over the top for the Player of the Year award was what he did on defense. He was West Allegheny's leading tackler with 89 1/2.
"It was not even close in tackles," Palko said. "That's the thing that people don't realize about him is how good he is on defense. When I told all you [reporters] that he's just a really good football player, that's what I meant. A 'player.' He's not just a running back. He's a 'player.'"
Caputo also led West Allegheny in tackles for loss (11) and sacks (4). He broke up five passes. All told, he was the main reason West Allegheny won the WPIAL Class AAA championship.
"I might take more pride on defense," Caputo said. "I don't know, but it's just something about defense that I just love. I think it's the mood. On defense, you get more hyped up. You can go all out and do whatever. When it comes time for offense, you kind of have to buckle down and get your mind right and everything down right."
Caputo had some terrific runs and games this season, including some memorable battles with Hopewell star running back Rushel Shell. In a regular-season meeting won by Hopewell, Shell rushed for 349 yards and Caputo, 218. In an epic WPIAL championship, won by West Allegheny, 36-28, Caputo had 178 yards and Shell, 278.
But the play that stands out most in Palko's and Caputo's minds, and says a lot about Caputo's athletic ability -- and desire -- came in a regular-season game against Montour. After a short pass, a Montour player was running for a touchdown. Caputo chased him down from behind, knocked the ball out of the Montour player's hands near the goal line, recovered it himself and then handed it off to a teammate to return the fumble.
"When I saw the guy catch it and running, I was kind of at the line of scrimmage," Caputo said. "I kind of felt a letdown. I felt like the team would be let down. So I found some sort of energy in myself and went after him."
Certainly, that play is part of the highlight tape.
"A lot of people want to know how fast he is or how much he bench presses," Palko said. "Well, we never max out with one rep on a bench and I don't know his 40-yard dash time. All I know is when you watch him on film, no one catches him and we played some pretty fast kids. And then to make some of the plays he made defensively, he has to be in the 4.5 40 range."
But to think, Caputo wouldn't have worn a West Allegheny uniform had he not transferred from Blackhawk this summer. Caputo said his family moved into the West Allegheny district because of his father's insurance business. The WPIAL examined the transfer and made Caputo eligible.
Caputo still has another season at West Allegheny, but some Division I schools are showing interest in him already. Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia coaches have been to West Allegheny to speak with Palko about Caputo. There are no scholarship offers yet but more schools will come around in the spring.
It will be interesting to see what position Caputo is cast into.
"I don't care if they want me as a kicker. It doesn't matter, as long as I play," said Caputo, who has a 3.2 grade-point average. "I'll play anywhere."
Palko said, "I don't know where he'll play in college. That's the job of the college coaches to figure out. I'm just telling you he's a football player, and isn't that neat because nowadays we always pigeon-hole a kid in a position. But he can play so many places."
As a back, Caputo has heard he has a running style similar to Stanford's Toby Gerhart, the runner-up for this year's Heisman Trophy. Both players wear No. 7.
"I went on YouTube and looked at some of his games," Caputo said. "He's a big dude. I don't know about me being like him."
But as a player on the WPIAL level, no one was like Mike Caputo this year.
Year Player School
1994 Brandon Short McKeesport
1995 Tony Zimmerman Penn-Trafford
1996 LaVar Arrington North Hills
1997 Brandon Williams Valley
1998 Rod Rutherford Perry
1999 Cecil Howard McKeesport
2000 Josh Lay Aliquippa
2001 Tyler Palko West Allegheny and Steve Breaston Woodland Hills
2002 Paul Posluszny Hopewell
2003 Eugene Jarvis Central Cath.
2004 Eugene Jarvis Central Cath.
2005 Dorin Dickerson West Allegheny
2006 Terrelle Pryor Jeannette
2007 Terrelle Pryor Jeannette
2008 Dorian Bell Gateway
2009 Mike Caputo West Allegheny
First Published: December 25, 2009, 10:00 a.m.