Decision Adds to Anticipation As Cass Tech's Thompson Begins Senior Year
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
August 18, 2022
DETROIT – Monday will mark both an end and the beginning for Detroit Cass Tech senior Jalen Thompson.
On one hand, it will mark an end to everyone in the recruiting world wondering which college football program he’ll initially give a commitment, as he had targeted Monday as the decision date to pledge his services to one of the more than 30 Division I college programs who have offered him a scholarship.
But it also will be the beginning, because make no mistake about it: College coaches who lose out on Monday aren’t going to give up trying to woo the ultra-talented Thompson until national signing day in December.
It’s no wonder, because Thompson is one of the premier defensive line recruits in the Midwest.
Last season, Thompson finished with 10 sacks, 42 tackles and 14 tackles for loss despite being the constant focus of attention for blocking schemes of opposing offenses.
He has narrowed his college contenders down to, in alphabetical order, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Pittsburgh, and chose Aug. 22 as the commitment date for two reasons.
One, it’s the first day of game week for Cass Tech’s season opener Aug. 26 at Southfield Arts & Technology.
Second, it’s the birthday of his late grandfather, and Thompson figured it was a good way to honor him.
“It was a day I felt comfortable with (committing,)” he said.
So Thompson will make one college program very happy Monday, then start preparing to make life miserable for opposing offenses during his senior season.
Of course, the big game that many have circled is Cass Tech’s annual tussle against Detroit Public School League rival Detroit Martin Luther King, which will take place on Sept. 16 at Cass Tech.
Many will turn out to see how much Thompson can pressure Martin Luther King quarterback and Oregon-pledge Dante Moore.
“Every time we go against them, my thing is to show them he’s not who they think he is and for him to get off the least amount of balls as possible,” Thompson said.
By no means is Thompson a late bloomer in football, given he has been playing in youth leagues since he was in elementary school.
However, he did not play for Cass Tech when he was a freshman because he decided to play youth football instead.
But after coming out for the varsity team his sophomore year, it certainly didn’t take long for Thompson to show he was special.
Cass Tech then-head coach Thomas Wilcher kept telling Thompson that his time was coming, and then proceeded to ask Thompson one question.
“Are you ready to blow up?” Thompson said Wilcher asked him.
Thompson sure did, and by the time his junior year was over, college coaches were salivating over his abilities.
This past offseason was spent touring some of the prominent programs in the country, including Ohio State, which offered him a scholarship in June after Thompson appeared at a camp there.
Going into his senior year, Thompson said polishing up mental aspects of the game is what he wants to focus on the most as he tries to lead Cass Tech to the Division 1 title.
“Really just fixing as many mental errors that I can and try and prepare for college as best of my ability,” he said. “Just fixing little things like techniques and definitely getting bigger. But mental things are most important right now.”
Cass Tech head coach Marvin Rushing, who is in his second year, said Thompson’s enhanced role as a leader will be vital this fall.
“He’s going to help lead our younger guys, which will be beneficial to us,” Rushing said. “We’re going to be a heavy mix of seniors and younger guys. That’s been pivotal. He’s been leading by example, working hard in the classroom and off of the field.”
It’s actually Thompson’s prowess in the classroom as a 3.8 student that has impressed Rushing more, especially while traveling the recruiting trail.
“It’s the way he carries himself off of the field,” Rushing said. “He is studying engineering here and plans on studying engineering in college. He’s a very accomplished student. The thing that stood out to me most in the offseason is that we had coaches come in here and he was really interested in what the Ivy League schools had to say.”
It should be a fun fall for everyone both and on and off the field to watch Thompson, who is ready to tell the world where he plans to play football and attend college Monday.
But he’s simply too talented for his recruiting to completely stop until December.
“Coaches now are texting me,” he said.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020.
PHOTO Detroit Cass Tech’s Jalen Thompson is expected to again rank among the state’s top defenders this season. (Photo courtesy of Jalen Thompson.)
After Answering Call, MCC's Caughey Finds Football Lessons Pay Off in Priesthood
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
August 5, 2025
Michael Caughey was known for his brute force and ability to bully opponents as an all-state offensive lineman at Muskegon Catholic Central.
Today, 10 years after his high school graduation, suffice to say that his life has made a 180-degree turn and he’s using an entirely different skill set in his first “real world” job.
“I’m trying to help people get to heaven,” he said.
The kid that everybody called Mikey is now Father Michael Caughey, FSSP, after completing seven years of training at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Nebraska and being ordained as a Catholic priest on May 28 in Lincoln, Neb.
He returned home briefly – basically for a busy month of June, saying Mass at various stops around West Michigan – before leaving in early July and making the nearly 1,700-mile, one-way trip to El Paso, Texas, where he is now serving as one of two assistant pastors at Immaculate Conception Church in downtown El Paso.
Fr. Michael is slowly adjusting to the triple-digit heat (he calls it “Hell Paso”) and also the pressure and responsibility of serving his congregation.
He often relies on the discipline and work ethic he learned as a Crusaders football player, where he was a two-way starting lineman on back-to-back Division 8 championship teams in 2013 and 2014 – the first two of four consecutive Finals winners for MCC.
“I went through seven years of preparation in the seminary but, I tell you what, nothing can totally prepare you for being on the other side of the altar,” said Caughey, 28, who also speaks fluent Spanish.
“My football days at MCC helped get me ready for this. I learned how to stay focused and get the job done under pressure.”
Gridiron dreams
When he was a little kid, Michael dreamed of playing football for MCC, then later for Michigan State and the Detroit Lions.
His biggest role model was his dad, Shawn, who was a member of Muskegon High School’s 1986 Class A championship team, although the two had completely different body types. As a senior, Shawn was a 5-foot-11, 165-pound free safety, while Michael was a 6-1, 270-pound offensive tackle.
Michael more closely resembled his uncle, Rob Vanderleest, a fellow all-state lineman at Muskegon Catholic who went on to become a 6-4, 270-pound tight end at Michigan.
Caughey was a three-year varsity starter for the Crusaders as a two-way tackle. He made all-state in 2013 and 2014 and was a team captain his senior year.
Muskegon Catholic coach Steve Czerwon, who was in his first season leading the program in 2013, said Caughey was a “dominant drive blocker” who also caught the coaching staff’s attention off the field.
“We noticed he carried a Bible around with him,” said Czerwon. “But he was very sincere about it, and that’s just who he was. I had him in class, and I would put him in the top one percent of students I’ve ever had in intelligence.”
Caughey said one of the first times he felt a calling to do more with his faith was during the first week of Lent during his freshman year, when he made an individual confession.
It wasn’t until his junior year that he contacted the Diocese of Grand Rapids about the priesthood and gathered more information about that possible career path.
“I didn’t really go too far down that road because I had a girlfriend at the time,” Caughey said with a chuckle.
Faith over football
He had opportunities to play college football in Michigan, but he also wanted to explore his faith further, so he chose to play at Benedictine College – a small, Catholic, NAIA school in Atchison, Kan.
He redshirted his first year, then made the travel team and played in every game the following fall as a backup offensive lineman and member of the field goal unit.
But early in his redshirt sophomore year of 2017, his interest in the priesthood, which had been smoldering for about five years, was reignited after being introduced to the Latin Mass.
“All those feelings about the priesthood came back and I knew I needed to pursue them,” said Caughey, whose younger sister, Molly, will be a senior at MCC this year. “I called my parents and told them I wanted to drop out of college and enter the seminary. The calling was so strong.”
Shawn and Sharon Caughey were initially skeptical, but have come to understand that Michael’s calling to the priesthood was a great gift to their family.
“We are all better people because of Michael and his journey,” said Shawn. “We are a stronger family, and I am a much better person because of him. I know that for a fact.”
Michael spent the past seven years at the Fraternity of St. Peter House of Formation in Denton, Neb., where he not only transformed himself spiritually with intense study of Catholic theology, but also physically – dropping about 60 pounds, and even running a marathon last year.
Even though his football career was done, he was able to satisfy his competitiveness on the basketball court. Michael helped his team to five national championships against other seminaries and is proud to be the leading rebounder in the school’s history.
His time at the seminary culminated and concluded with his ordination ceremony in late May, which was attended by a large group of family and friends, including Czerwon.
Getting to the next level
Caughey admits his life has been something of a whirlwind for the past two months since his ordination day.
He is just now settling in at Immaculate Conception, where English is, essentially, his third language. He delivers all of his Masses and homilies in Latin and a high percentage of the congregation speaks Spanish.
“I just can’t believe how quickly everything happened,” he said during a recent phone interview, taking a break from his parish duties. “I was just a kid at the seminary, and now I’m saying Mass and hearing confessions. I’m responsible for people’s souls.”
While he misses home, he is thankful he was able to return to Muskegon as an ordained priest.
He said one of the best moments of his life was saying Mass on June 2 at his home parish, St. Mary’s in downtown Muskegon, followed by a reception in his honor.
The next day, he returned to his alma mater and said a Mass at Muskegon Catholic’s Nugent Auditorium. He delivered the Mass in Latin, as always, but he was “amazed at how locked in all of the kids were.”
He was then able to roam the halls of MCC for the first time as a priest, stopping to take pictures next to his all-state photo in the school’s “Hall of Fame,” and realizing that, as much as things have changed, the process to greatness remains the same.
“I remember playing tackle and telling the guard next to me, Jacob Holt, that we need to double-team the tackle and then get to the next level,” Caughey said. “The goal back then was to get our running backs into the end zone, which we did a pretty job of.
“Our goal now is to get our parishioners into heaven. The goal is just a little bigger now, I guess.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Michael Caughey rushes the quarterback in a playoff game against Mendon. At right, Father Michael Caughey, FSSP, was ordained a Catholic priest on May 28 in Lincoln, Neb. (Middle) Caughey poses in front of his all-state picture in Muskegon Catholic Central's Hall of Fame. (Below) Caughey (62) walks onto the turf at Ford Field before the 2014 Division 8 championship game as one of Muskegon Catholic Central's four captains. (MCC action photos by Tim Reilly; recent photos courtesy of Shawn Caughey.)