After leaving Elk Grove, Armond Armstead set a high standard for himself and his younger brother, Arik.

Before deciding to attend USC, Armond excelled as a player at Pleasant Grove High School. In 2008, he helped the Trojans win a Rose Bowl.

He continued on to play professionally in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts, where he won the Grey Cup in his rookie season in 2012 and went on to become an all-star.

He continued to support his brother as the superior football player despite doing this.

He was aware that Arik’s “unique athleticism and size” offered him the chance to be something remarkable.

Armond was six feet five inches tall and weighed 305 pounds, but his younger brother was six feet seven inches taller and 290 pounds lighter.

“I feel like Arik has always been gifted, even at a young age,” said Armond, 33.

Arik would not let you down.

At Pleasant Grove High School, he was a two-sport standout who excelled in basketball as well as football.

He made a commitment to play both sports at the University of Oregon.

The 30-year-old Arik Armstead has been a member of the 49ers’ defensive line since being chosen with the team’s first-round selection in the 2015 draft.

After overcoming several setbacks and tumultuous seasons, he will play in his second Super Bowl on Sunday.

Against the Kansas City Chiefs, he will have the opportunity to capture both the franchise’s sixth overall and his first NFL championship.

Armond will also be there in Las Vegas to encourage and support his brother.

Armond Armstead remarked, “Just getting there is a great achievement.”

However, winning it would be extremely beneficial for all of the men on that team, both for their future jobs and personal lives. I’m eager to see how things work out.

Siblings’ competitive fire

The two brothers grew up with many of the same activities and don’t have a large age difference.

Together, they watched football, played basketball, and engaged in Madden video games with NFL licenses.

They would walk outside to practice what they saw when playing video games or during games.

The two brothers never let the other rest when it came to working out, training, or going one-on-one during drills or a game of hoops.

Family members were furious with a younger Armond for not being gentle on Arik when they were kids and they were playing basketball or football games together.

When he hit Arik during their games, his relatives would question him about it.

When Armond was pitted against other people, his response would be, “People are going to hit him.”

Armond remarked, “I can say I never took it easy on him.” “I expected a lot from him.”

I would give it my all for him if we ever played sports. He tried his hardest for me.

I picked up a lot of the same skills from my dad, mostly in terms of work ethic and requirements.

Fisticuffs never resulted from their battles. They were constantly motivating, according to Armond.

Armond remarked, “We never took it to a crazy place.”

We weren’t having insane conversations. We were the “just win, play the game, talk to yourself” kind of people.

Armond also discussed his brother’s skill as a defender on one of the best defenses in the NFL.

Armond remarked, “He always had good technique with hand placement and things like that.”

“After that, he just kept growing, and as you age, you become more cunning and continue to use certain things.”

“He does love getting into the stance and getting his hands inside a lot,” Armond continued. That has always come rather naturally to him.

Cut from the same cloth

When the Elk Grove Unified school originally opened in 2005, Joe Cattolico was Pleasant Grove’s head football coach.

He coached the Armstead twins until 2012, when Arik’s senior year, when he took a brief hiatus from coaching.

In his third year as the football coach at Granite Bay in Placer County, Cattolico still finds great pleasure in remembering Arik Armstead from his high school days.

When Arik used to play both ends of the field, in a 2011 playoff game, he completely took Nathan Dollar of Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, one of the top defensive linemen in the area, off the field.

Cattolico stated, “During the week, guys were kind of making fun of Arik, saying things like, ‘This kid was a really good player and was gonna give him a hard time.'”

“I have never witnessed a man act in this way. If you’ve ever seen the scene in the movie “The Blind Side,” where he simply drives the defensive player off the field, you know what I mean.

To this child, who was arguably our section’s best defensive player, Arik actually did it in real life.

He was taken off the field, the sidelines, and the track by Arik.

Cattolico acknowledged that having never played or coached at the NFL level, he lacked the necessary knowledge to describe what an NFL prospect looked like.

All he knew was that Arik was “clearly unique and athletically different.”

He’s grateful for the opportunity to meet both of them.

“We had Armond play for us. He was an excellent football player, according to Cattolico.

“He was an incredible player for us, and he would be playing professional football right now if he hadn’t had some health problems.”

After leaving USC, Armstead experienced cardiac problems, which he claimed caused his career to take a turn for the worst.

Before he signed with the CFL, he was not selected in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Armond chose to try his hand at the NFL again after winning the Grey Cup, and he signed with the New England Patriots in 2013.

“That spring, I experienced yet another cardiac issue, a blood condition that essentially compelled me to decide to retire,” stated Armond.

He retired at the age of twenty-three.

He settled a lawsuit against USC in 2015, alleging that the university was to blame for a heart attack he had while playing football for the Trojans.

The heart attack happened many months ahead of Armond’s anticipated senior year.

According to the lawsuit, he was given a medication called Toradol, which resulted in a heart attack and ended his football career.

 

 

Armond is no longer on the field, but that hasn’t stopped him from being involved in the game and supporting Arik at all times as he pursues a career in football, whether it’s through practice, film study, or the draft process.

“My brother, my friends, all the coaches and other people, and all the relationships I built during my time—that’s been my connection with football,” he remarked.

It appears that Armond Armstead has no regrets about his football career.

His main priorities these days are being a wonderful father to their five children and a devoted husband to Greer.

“What we accomplished, the success we had—we were able to sign with the Patriots and win a Grey Cup.

Playing alongside Tom Brady and Bill Belichick gave me the opportunity to be a part of some incredible football legacies, form some amazing relationships, make some plays along the road, and support great teams. That was amazing.

Cattolico extols the virtues of the Armstead brothers’ character almost as much as their football prowess.

“As mentors, we consistently discuss our desire to assist our players in maturing into young men who can make a constructive contribution to society,” Cattolico stated.

It truly reflects how amazing Arik’s family is as a human being. He possesses a certain groundedness that contributes to his unique personality.

That is his family’s nature. They are made of the same material as his older brother, who performed for us.

Man of the Year nominee

They had captivating personalities, according to Cattolico, and could make anyone around them feel good about themselves.

These qualities are evident in Arik Armstead’s efforts off the field, as he has been a finalist for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award four times in a row.

His altruistic endeavors in the Sacramento and Bay Area regions are exemplified by his nonprofit organization, the Armstead Academic Project, which prioritizes educational equity for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

He has donated $2 million and raised an extra $500,000 since the organization’s inception in 2019.

By loudly endorsing Assembly Bill 2774, his nonprofit organization aided in the passage of legislation amending California’s school financing mechanism to include greater funds for student demographic groups that score poorly on statewide exams.

Armstead acknowledges that Black kids face a disproportionate amount of hardship as a result of inadequate financing and resources.

In an interview with The Sacramento Bee in 2022, Armstead stated, “I’m passionate about it.”I think that nurture triumphs over nature.

0I don’t think that human beings are inferior by birth. We’re working to find the cause of the underperformance of Black students in our state, and I believe this bill will go a long way toward doing so.

Free football camps are organized by Arik for youth, and in the past, Cattolico has given support.

Arik has a “great personality, great vibe and heart, and empathy for other people,” according to Cattolico.

“He’s taken that personality and really made a positive impact on the world around him with the platform that he has as a professional football player,” Cattolico stated.