Former TC Central standout Pupel gets spot in Patriots camp
May 3—TRAVERSE CITY — Another chance is all John Pupel wants.
He took a chance after graduating from Dartmouth with an economics degree and then walked on at Boston College's football program as a graduate student. A season later, he was starting at safety for the Eagles, and he parlayed that into a rookie minicamp invitation from the New England Patriots.
"It's the lowest opportunity you can get, but it's an opportunity nonetheless," Pupel said. "I've been in a lot of longshot spots in my career. I'm willing to bet on myself. I want to keep playing as long as possible."
The Patriots rookie minicamp is May 9-11, giving the 6-foot-1, 205-pound strong safety another week in Traverse City to prepare.
The former Traverse City Central standout last played in northern Michigan in 2015 as a safety/running back for the Trojans as Central cruised to a perfect 9-0 regular season. He enrolled at a boarding school in Virginia for his senior year, then committed to Dartmouth, where he was a three-year letterwinner and made 133 tackles.
"He was always the type of guy who wanted to pursue another level," TC Central football coach Eric Schugars said. "The sky is the limit. He's that kind of guy."
Pupel, 24, enrolled at Boston College in 2022, seeing action in four games as a grad transfer. With an extra year of eligibility, because his junior year at Dartmouth was the canceled 2020 pandemic season, he came back for the 2023-24 campaign and responded by starting 11 of Boston College's 13 games. He was second on the team with 81 tackles and led BC with 6.5 tackles for loss, earning All-New England selection (the only other BC player on the team was Detroit Lions sixth-round pick Christian Mahogany).
He had four tackles and a pass breakup in the Eagles' Wasabi Fenway Bowl upset win over Southern Methodist.
Ever since playing in the Ivy League's Dream Japan Bowl, a Jan. 21 all-star game in Tokyo for current and former Ivy League players, he's been in Traverse City and meeting TC Central strength and conditioning coach Doug Gle at 5:30 a.m. in Central's weight room to work out — sometimes returning at 8 p.m. for another session.
"He's going all in and sacrificing his time and energy to pursue his dream," Gle said. "He's just one of the hungriest kids I've worked with. There's some kids who play football, and then there's some who love football."
The Patriots have 79 players under contract (counting their 2024 draft selections from last week) and added 10 undrafted free agents, including Troy University safety Dell Pettus.
Pupel specifically mentioned that he has to outplay Pettus at the minicamp to have a shot at being among the 90 players invited to New England's full training camp later this summer.
"I put up a good college career, where I think I can make something out of this," Pupel said. "Basically, you have to go steal someone else's contract."
Pupel played right in the Patriots' backyard at Boston College, and he coincidentally played alongside two of Patriots owner Robert Kraft's grandsons — Harry Kraft at Dartmouth and then Jacob Kraft at BC. As a sophomore at Dartmouth in 2019, he finished third on the team in tackles, despite starting only two games.
The Patriots interviewed Pupel after his pro day, where he said he ran a disappointing 4.73 in the 40 while coming back from a hamstring injury. The Pats had him respond to and draw up defensive coverages on a chalkboard, a part of the process he thinks he aced.
Pupel also put up good numbers in other pro day events, with a 36-inch vertical, 10-foot broad jump and 4.21 time in the 20-yard shuttle.
"I have to show I can play special teams," Pupel said. "That's the third phase of the game, and you can establish a spot and make big plays."
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