Howard’s hires of Cato June and Brandon Torrey lend NFL cachet to coaching staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Howard football team begins this season with a pair of significant additions on offense, but they aren’t at high-profile positions such as quarterback or wide receiver. The newcomers, both of whom left imprints on the local football scene, don’t even play a position at all, at least not these days.

Cato June is the Bison’s first-year running backs coach and director of football operations, on the heels of serving as head coach at Anacostia, his high school alma mater, and then C.H. Flowers. June played seven years at linebacker in the NFL, winning Super Bowl XLI with the Indianapolis Colts after the 2006 season.

The following year, offensive lineman Brandon Torrey, a former Howard standout, was part of the Super Bowl XLII-winning New York Giants. Torrey officially joins Bison Coach Gary Harrell’s staff as offensive line coach after setting the school record for most consecutive starts.

“It worked out pretty well for me,” said Harrell, who also starred for the Bison as a player, helping Howard win the black national championship in 1993.

Torrey was a volunteer coach last year, initially coming back to campus to fulfill a pledge to his mother to earn his diploma. He left 18 credits short of a degree in sociology in 2006 to pursue his professional football career that included stops with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals in addition to the Giants. His last NFL team was the Oakland Raiders in 2009.

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