What makes Arik Armstead special? His brother, coach share as Sacramento native heads to Super Bowl

Armond Armstead set the bar high for himself and his younger brother, Arik, coming out of Elk Grove.

Armond became a standout player at Pleasant Grove High School before committing to USC, where he helped the team win a Rose Bowl his first year in 2008. He went on to play professionally for the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League, becoming an all-star and winning the CFL’s championship, the Grey Cup, his rookie season in 2012.

While he was doing this, he was still rooting for his brother to be the better football player.

He knew Arik had the opportunity to be special due to his “unique athleticism and size.” Although Armond stood 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, his younger brother was a bit taller and leaner at 6-foot-7, 290 pounds.

“Arik, from a young age, I feel like he was always gifted,” said Armond, 33.

Arik wouldn’t disappoint.

He dominated the gridiron at Pleasant Grove High School and was a dual-sport athlete starring in basketball. He committed to the University of Oregon, where he continued to play both sports.

Arik Armstead, 30, was selected with the 49ers’ first-round pick in the 2015 draft and has played for the team’s defensive line ever since.

He’s overcome some injuries and turbulent seasons to now make his second Super Bowl appearance Sunday, with the chance to win his first NFL championship and the franchise’s sixth overall in a Super Bowl LIV rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs.

And Armond will be there in Las Vegas to support and root his brother on.

“It’s a great achievement (just getting there),” Armond Armstead said. “But if they can win it, that would be a great benefit for all those men on that team, for their careers going forward and their lives. (I’m) excited to see what the outcome is.”

Siblings’ competitive fire

The two brothers don’t have a wide age gap and grew up with a lot of the same hobbies. They played basketball together, watched football together and played the NFL-licensed Madden video games together.

What they saw during games or playing video games, they’d go outside to practice.

When it came to training, working out or going one-on-one during drills or a game of hoops, the two brothers didn’t allow each other to relax.

When they were kids playing basketball or family games of football, family members got upset with a younger Armond for not going easy on Arik.

His family would ask him why he would hit Arik during their games. Armond would respond by saying “people are going to hit him” when played against others.

“I can say I never took it easy on him,” Armond said. “I had high expectations from him. If we ever play sports, I’d give him my best effort. He gave me his best effort. A lot of the same stuff that I learned from my dad and stuff, just the work ethic and what it takes.”

Their battles never led to fisticuffs. They were always encouraging, Armond said.

“We never took it to a crazy place,” said Armond. “We weren’t talking crazy to each other. We were the ‘just play the game, win, talk to yourself’ type.”

Armond also spoke of what makes his brother a feared defender on one of the NFL’s top defenses.

“He always had sound technique with hand placing and things like that,” Armond said. “So once he started just growing and, as you get older, you get more crafty and keep applying certain things.”

Armond added: “He does love getting into the stance and getting his hands inside a lot. He’s always kind of naturally done that.”

Cut from the same cloth

Joe Cattolico coached the Armstead brothers when he was head coach of varsity football at Pleasant Grove starting in 2005, when the Elk Grove Unified school first opened, until he left coaching for a couple of years in 2012, following Arik’s senior year.

Cattolico, now in his third year as football coach at Granite Bay in Placer County, still gets a good kick out of his fondest memory of Arik Armstead during his high school days. Arik, during a playoff game in 2011, back when he played both sides of the ball, drove one of the best defensive linemen in the region, Nathan Dollar of Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, completely off the field.

“Guys were kind of teasing Arik during the week saying, ‘This kid was a really good player and was gonna give him a hard time,’” Cattolico said. “I’ve never seen a guy do this before. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘The Blind Side’ where he just takes the guy and just drives the defensive player all the way off the field. Arik did that in real life to this kid who was ... one of the best defensive players in our section. Arik took him off the field, off the sideline, out onto the track.”

Cattolico admitted he wasn’t knowledgeable enough to know what an NFL prospect looked like because he’d never played or coached at that level. He just knew Arik was “obviously special and different athletically.”

He’s happy for the chance to cross paths with both of them.

“Armond played for us. He was a really good football player,” Cattolico said. “(He) was a phenomenal player for us and if (he) wouldn’t have had some health issues, he’d be playing pro football, too, right now.”

Following his tenure at USC, Armstead developed heart issues which he said started to derail his career.

He went undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft prior to signing with the CFL. Following his Grey Cup victory, Armond decided on another shot at the NFL, signing with the New England Patriots in 2013.

“In that spring, I had another heart problem, a blood situation that basically forced me to make a decision to retire,” Armond said.

In 2015, he settled a lawsuit against USC that blamed the school for a heart attack he suffered while playing football for the Trojans. The heart attack occurred months before what would have been Armond’s senior year. The lawsuit alleged he was administered a drug, Toradol, that caused the heart attack, cutting his football career short.

He was 23 years old when he retired.

Despite no longer playing, it hasn’t stopped Armond from being around the game and being available for Arik when needed on his journey to professional football — whether training, watching film or going through the draft process.

“That’s been my connection with football through my friends, my brother, all the coaches and other people, and all the relationships I built during my time,” he said.

Armond Armstead seemingly has no regrets from his football career. These days, his focus is being a loving husband to his wife, Greer, and a great father to their five children.

“What we did and the success ... we won a Grey Cup and got to sign with the Patriots. That was awesome, to play with Tom (Brady) and Bill (Belichick) and get a chance to be a part of something great, some great football legacies, build some great connections and make some plays along the way, and help be a part of great teams.”

Cattolico raves about the Armstead brothers’ character just as much as their football talents, if not more.

“As coaches, we always talk about, we want to help our guys develop and become young men and have a positive impact in the world,” Cattolico said. “(It’s) really so reflective of how Arik’s family are just phenomenal people. He’s got that grounding ... that helps make him the really special person that he is. That’s how his folks are. That’s how his older brother was, who played for us. ... They’re cut from that kind of cloth.”

Man of the Year nominee

Cattolico described them as having magnetic personalities, able to make other people around them feel good about themselves.

Arik Armstead, who has been a finalist for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award each of the past four years, continues to exemplify those characteristics throughout his work off the field. His philanthropic efforts include his charitable work throughout the Sacramento and Bay Area regions through his nonprofit organization, the Armstead Academic Project, which focuses on educational equity for students of a lower socioeconomic status.

Since its founding in 2019, he has pledged $2 million and raised an additional $500,000.

His nonprofit organization’s vocal support for Assembly Bill 2774 helped pass legislation to adjust California’s education funding formula requiring additional support for demographic groups of students who underperform on statewide tests. Armstead recognizes the disproportionate struggle of Black students due to a lack of resources and lack of funding.

“I’m passionate about it,” Armstead said in a 2022 interview with The Sacramento Bee. “I believe in nurture over nature. I don’t believe that people are born less than. There’s a reason why Black students aren’t performing in our state and we’re trying to address that, and I think this bill will go a long way to addressing that.”

Arik hosts free football camps for young people, where in the past, Cattolico has provided a lending hand.

Cattolico said he admires Arik’s “great personality, great vibe and heart, and empathy for other people.”

“He’s taken that personality and used the platform that he has as a pro football player to really have a positive impact on the world around him,” Cattolico said.

This story was originally published February 9, 2024 at 5:00 AM.