HS Football: Haven’s Castillo ‘excited’ to get opportunity to play at Minnesota
Schuylkill Haven senior running back Niko Castillo, front row, center, poses with members of his family during a signing ceremony at the Schuylkill Haven Area High School Zwerling Auditorium to celebrate Castillo signing to play football at the University of Minnesota. Participating in the ceremony are, front row, from left: mom Tammy Dayson, Niko, aunt Tawny Miller; back row, brothers Hunter Carter and Mason Carter (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Niko Castillo strolled into the Schuylkill Haven Area High School’s Zwerling Auditorium on Monday morning clad in a Minnesota sweatshirt and a pair of shorts.
He jokingly said he’s going to have to dress warmer this time next year, where the temperatures in the Minneapolis area were in the single digits and snow was in the forecast.
The Schuylkill Haven senior was honored at a ceremony Monday in front of roughly two dozen friends and family members to celebrate the 6-foot-2, 230-pound running back’s signing to play football at the University of Minnesota.
Castillo officially signed his NCAA Division I letter of intent to play for the Gophers last Wednesday, the first day of the early NCAA signing period. Monday was the earliest everyone involved in the process could get together to celebrate the occasion.
“It’s really exciting,” Castillo said. “It all happened really fast. I’m just taking it all in. It’s truly a blessing.”
Castillo, who was recruited by Minnesota as a running back, was a late addition to the Golden Gophers’ 2026 recruiting class. Rated as a three-star athlete by Rivals.com, 247Sports and ESPN recruiting services, Castillo is part of a 31-member recruiting class that ranked 32nd nationally and ninth in the Big Ten by Rivals.com.
Prior to Minnesota getting involved, Castillo’s recruitment included NCAA Division I offers from Kent State of the MAC and Stonehill College of the NEC. His five-year scholarship offer includes $20,000 of collective money per year.
In his recruiting day press conference, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck described Castillo as a “big back, hybrid traits, is a two-way player, punishes defenders in the way that he runs.”
Minnesota running backs coach Jayden Everett was the first to reach out to Castillo the week before Thanksgiving. He received his full scholarship offer from Fleck on Friday, Nov. 28, during an official recruiting visit to the Minneapolis school.
The visit, Castillo said, including meetings with position and strength and conditioning coaches, dinner with the coaching staff at a city steakhouse, then a photo shoot by university photographers with Castillo wearing a No. 8 Minnesota uniform.
Castillo and his mom, Tammy Dayson, then attended Minnesota’s 17-7 Big Ten victory over Wisconsin in the annual Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe on Saturday, Nov. 29, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Most of the game was played in a steady snowfall.
Minnesota finished the regular season 7-5 overall, 5-4 in the Big Ten. The Gophers will play New Mexico in the Rate Bowl on Friday, Dec. 26, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
“The atmosphere was crazy, especially compared to a small school like this,” Castillo said of the Wisconsin game. “The weather I have to get used to. It was snowing a lot. It was cold. It was crazy.
“Coach Fleck is a great guy, lots of energy. I’d love to play for him.”
Castillo excelled on both sides of the ball this season for Schuylkill Haven, which won its first 12 games before falling 34-31 to Williams Valley in the District 11 Class AA championship game.
On offense, Castillo rushed 73 times for 865 yards and 12 touchdowns, including one TD run for 98 yards. Utilized often in Haven’s passing game, Castillo also hauled in 17 passes for 423 yards and nine touchdowns and compiled 1,547 all-purpose yards.
Defensively, the outside linebacker was one of the top defenders in the area, collecting 67 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. Sunday, he was named the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Small School Defensive Player of the Year.
A four-year starter, Castillo compiled 1,743 rushing yards, 603 receiving yards and 252 tackles for his career. Over the last three seasons, Schuylkill Haven went 32-6 with three straight trips to the District 11 Class AA title game.
“I’m going to miss all the support, people coming out,” Castillo said when asked what he’s going to miss about Schuylkill Haven. “Everything I learned from Coach Farr over the past four years. I got taught a lot of valuable lessons.”
One of those valuable lessons, he said, was to be unselfish. Part of a backfield that included a pair of teammates, Niko Carestia and Colton Reber, who each rushed for more than 2,700 yards in back-to-back seasons, Castillo said being unselfish was a big reason for the Hurricanes’ success on the ground.
It’s a characteristic he plans to take with him to Minnesota, where he hopes to share a backfield with running backs that produce similar numbers.
“It helped a lot because you have to be unselfish, you have to block for one another to be successful,” Castillo said. “I’m going to take that with me. I don’t care who gets the ball, I’m going to block for whoever has it.”
