Super-Senior Reflections: Mike Caggiano

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massahusetts football kicker Mike Caggiano is one of five redshirt senior student-athletes on the team, alongside Michael Curtis, Kyle Horn, Randall West and Mike Yerardi. Caggiano, Horn, West and Yerardi arrived at UMass as classmates in 2015 while Curtis joined the group as a junior college transfer in Dec., 2016. Each of the five fifth-year team members will reflect on their time at the University of Massachusetts for UMassAthletics.com. Their entries will be posted throughout the week leading up to the season-opener at Rutgers on Fri., Aug. 30.

Mike Caggiano • Redshirt Senior • Kicker • Manalapan, N.J.

Being a senior – a super-senior – it's extremely bittersweet. It really hasn't hit me yet that this is it. It's just that, not knowing where life can take you and everything along those lines, makes this so bittersweet.

I have already earned my undergraduate degree. Being the oldest guy on the team, trying to give the younger guys some advice, there is just so much going on that I haven't be able to take a moment to myself and just stop and look around and just take it all in yet. I feel like my last home game here on McGuirk is going to be that moment for me where I take it all in and I'm probably going to break down a little bit when it hits me.

I don't know where football is going to take me after this. It's been an extremely good, extremely crazy ride. Thinking back, there have been a lot of different challenges thrown at me and thrown at all of us as a group, collectively, but thinking about where we are right now, I'm extremely confident in this program. I feel really good about where this program is going and where it has taken us. I am excited for this season to start. When I got here my freshman year I had no idea what life would be like or where it would take me. I was lucky enough to have guys in my class like Randall (West), Kyle (Horn) and (Mike) Yerardi. We all linked together and we've been housemates for the last four years. Ending my collegiate career with the same guys that I started with is something incredibly special to me.

It's funny looking back at all of it. I think back to my senior year of high school in particular and, back then, we had this ceremony following the last practice before our final game. We would have a small bonfire at our home field where we ceremoniously burned a cleat and the whole team gathered around. All the seniors stood up in front of the team and talked for a few minutes each about our respective journeys through high school to that day and talked to the freshmen about how time flies and everything around that.

Now being a senior here, as I go off and become an alumus looking back, I would tell those young guys coming through next after I've left to really take everything in. Have moments where you take a deep breath, take a step back and see what you have, because time really does fly. I remember my freshman year like it was yesterday. My first day coming in here, my first camp, it doesn't seem that long ago, but it's going on five years now, and five years is a long time when you stop and think about it. It really did go by fast. For the young guys that will get here as I go, take that step back, take this all in, and make the most of your time here, because it's gone fast.

University of Massachusetts plays its first home game of the year on Sat., Sept. 7 against Southern Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Single game, season, group and Homecoming Weekend tickets for the 2019 season are available now. Tickets can be purchased through the UMass Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at 866-UMASS-TIX, online via UMass Athletics Ticket Central or in-person at the Mullins Center Box Office.

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Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Mike Caggiano

Michael Curtis

Kyle Horn

Randall West

Mike Yerardi

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics