Hudson Valley Resident May Get Drafted by NFL Team This Weekend

A Hudson Valley resident might hear his name get called this weekend during the NFL draft despite partial paralysis.

Nick Mongelli of Marlboro was a three-sport varsity star at Marlboro High School. He was a three-year starter in football and a two-time first-team all-state selection, helping Marlboro win three section titles and two regional championships. He also earned all-state honors for basketball and baseball.

Mongelli then went to play football at SUNY Cortland as a kicker and punter. He was named All-Conference punter in 2017, Player Of the Year in 2018 and All-Conference kicker in 2019, he told NFL Draft Diamonds. 

Mongelli accomplished all of this despite being born with a birth defect. He was born with Erb’s Palsy and can't fully extend his right arm, he told Moore Football.

"It hasn't stopped me from being successful in my athletics. As a young kid me and my parents and my physical therapist worked to teach myself to be lefthand," he told Moore Football.

Mongelli says he has gotten some interest from some pro scouts and hired an agent. He recently completed a virtual pro-day, where he says he missed only two field goals total, one from 48-yards and another from 58-yards.

But on his last kick, he connected on a 61-yard field goal that went right down the middle, and he believes would have been good from 65-yards.

It's very rare for someone to get drafted out of a Division-III school, and most kickers don't get selected until the late rounds of the NFL draft, or get signed as an undrafted free agent. Mongelli understands that, but he remains hopeful he can become a professional football player.

"I just want an opportunity to to play whether it’s getting picked up in the late round signed after the draft. I just want opportunity to play and prove to people that come from a small school I still have the ability to play at the professional level which I think I do I think I’ve prepared myself very well over the over the past years in preparation for this and I’m pretty confident in my ability and I’m like I said, I’m just looking for the opportunity from any team just to help them succeed as a team as a whole." Mongelli said in an NFL Prospect interview with SportsCast.