Stavros Katsantonis

A native of Bakersfield, California, Katsantonis attended Liberty High School as well as Garces Memorial High School. His freshman and sophomore seasons where spent playing for the Garces Rams. A family hardship initiated the transfer to Liberty where Katsantonis would finish his high school career for his junior and senior seasons. He would go on to accumulate 145 tackles, 9 interceptions, and a total of 3 forced/recovered fumbles in his final two seasons of high school,^[5][6] earning him all area honors at the safety position.^[7][8]

While living in Bakersfield, California, Katsantonis was raised by his parents Jimmy and Becky Katsantonis. His father being an immigrant from Canada, Katsantonis would receive Canadian citizenship which would later work in his favor for his football endeavors. Katsantonis took after his father who also played collegiate football and won a Vanier Cup with the University of Calgary in 1988.

Katsantonis was also a multi-sport athlete participating in football, basketball, soccer, track and field, and hockey during his youth and throughout high school.

Katsantonis was high school teammates with Green Bay Packers and first round selection in the 2020 NFL draft, quarterback Jordan Love as well as signed Packers UDFA Krys Barnes.^[9]

Unranked coming out of high school and with no prominent D-1 or D-1AA offers Katsantonis' father advised his son to look to Canada. Coach Blake Nill at The University of British Columbia offered Katsantonis a scholarship in early 2015. Katsantonis accepted and played for Coach Nill's UBC T-Birds football team from 2015 to 2018.

As a true freshman in 2015, Katsantonis played in all 12 games with 7 starts coming towards the end of the season. He finished the season with 41 tackles, 6 interceptions, and 4 forced/recovered fumbles earning him the nickname “The Bakersfield Bandit."^[1] He was named the Bruce Coulter award winner in the 2015 Vanier Cup after he recorded 6.5 tackles a pass break up, and a key forced and recovered fumble late in the game.^[10] Katsantonis would go on to become a Vanier Cup champion in that game thanks to a game winning field goal with no time on the clock by future Saskatchewan Roughriders 2016 CFL draft pick Quinn Van Gylswyk.

At the end of the 2016 season, Katsantonis had 67 total tackles (45 solo and 22 assists), 5 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 sack, and 5 pass break ups.^[11] He would go on to be named a Unanimous  First-team All-Conference at the safety position as well as garner national attention earning First-team All-Canadian honors.^[12]

Katsantonis was also invited to participate in the 2016 International Bowl to represent Team Canada at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Katsantonis would again prove his worth in the game picking off future Redskins Quarterback Dwayne Haskins. He was named the MVP of this game along with Haskins.^[13]

Throughout the 2017 season Katsantonis had established himself as one of the premier defensive players in Usports football.^[14] At the end of the 2017 season Katsantonis had accumulated another 5-interception season, 47 tackles, and 3 forced fumbles.^[11] This led to Katsantonis becoming a finalist for the Presidents trophy, which is given each year to the nations top defense player. He was also awarded the Canada West Conference Most Outstanding Defensive player.^[15] Katsantonis would again go on to be named a Unanimous First team All-Conference^[16] and First-team All-Canadian at the safety position.^[17]

Katsantonis would also be invited to the Canada's annual East-West All-Star game for prospects entering their draft year.^[18]

By the end of the 2018 season Katsantonis had put up another multiple turnover year with 4 interceptions (1 returned for a 67-yard TD), 1 fumble recovery, and 50 total tackles.^[11] Katsantonis would land another consecutive year of First-team All-Conference^[17] and First-team All-Canadian honors^[17] at the safety position solidifying himself as one of the top defensive backs to play the Canadian university game.