2025 NFL Draft interview: St. Norbert TE Mitch Van Vooren

WCG’s lead draft analyst spoke with St. Norbert’s intriguing sleeper prospect.

St. Norbert tight end Mitch Van Vooren comes into the 2025 NFL Draft as one of the draft’s most interesting stories.

Though he played football in high school, Van Vooren decided to go to Marquette as a track & field athlete. He spent four seasons there, having broken the outdoor 400-meter hurdle record in program history. An All-Big East performer, he also finished top-10 in Marquette’s record books in the 400-meter and 600-meter run.

As he prepared to get his MBA, Van Vooren wanted to pursue his passion of playing football. Marquette doesn’t have a football team, so St. Norbert, a Division III school in De Pere, Wisconsin, ended up as his landing spot. He took like a fish to water, earning an invitation to the College Gridiron Showcase and competing against FBS talent, despite only having played two years of college football.

This interview has a strong personal tie, as well. My younger brother, Joey Infante, is a defensive lineman for St. Norbert currently. Heading into the 2024 season, he told me that Van Vooren was a player to watch. He lived up to expectations, and now, he’s generating legitimate NFL looks.

Windy City Gridiron spoke with Van Vooren about his track career, his experience at the College Gridiron Showcase, his learning curve getting back into football, and more.

JI: Going back to your time at Marquette, what was your favorite experience there?

MVV: Probably just the overall experiences, like hanging out there with the team and traveling. Once a year, we’d go to California and have a couple meets up there. Overall, competing against the upper echelon of teams, going against the best of the best at regionals or relays out in California. Being able to travel the world while still being in school and going to a Division I school is always pretty cool.

JI: When you went to get your MBA, what went into your process of going to St. Norbert, and what motivated you to join the football team?

MVV: After Marquette, I knew I wanted to go play football again. I knew that by my sophomore year in Marquette, I knew I still wanted to go see if I could make it to the NFL. I was planning on coming back my entire time, and then with COVID, we got that extra year of eligibility. [I was] looking at schools; I reached out to all of them that recruited me out of high school, and one factor that helped bring me to St. Norbert was talking to the guys when I was on my visit — and the head coach and staff — as well as it’s 45 minutes away from where I grew up. It was nice for my parents to only drive 45 minutes instead of flying across the country to watch me compete. That’s also one of the big factors that got me to St. Norbert.

JI: What was it like to work your way back into being a football player again?

MMV: [There was] definitely a learning curve, but I grew up playing football, so it’s always been with me. [It’s] something I feel like I’m called to do, so it’s natural. But, yeah, obviously there was a little bit of a learning curve getting back into college football, but I was surrounded by a good group of guys who helped mentor me and help me ease my way back into it and make sure that I knew what I was doing and had the right training staff and right support staff around me to help make that transition easier.

JI: You guys started slow in 2024, but you went on a tear to finish the year. What was your favorite experience playing for St. Norbert?

MVV: Since it was my only second year here, it was nice to get to get to know the team a little bit more. The first year, I lived off campus, and I only take MBA classes at night, so I’m not really with the guys all that much. I ran track in the spring, so I wasn’t really with the football team in the spring. Then, the second year, I told myself I wanted to be with the team a little bit more. Hanging out at the practices and getting to know him more at dinners and lunches and stuff like that, and being around the team a little bit more made it a little more enjoyable. You’re closer than just friends and brothers that way; it’s more like family.

JI: Obviously, your speed and athleticism at your size is impressive. How do you maintain that track speed while keeping up the tight end frame?

MVV: Coming up with a track background, speed is always important. [I’m] being sure I’m still focusing on sprinting as fast as I can, and doing that a couple times a week, but also dieting correctly. I’ve always been a bigger guy — even at Marquette, I was a little heavier and bigger than everyone else — so it’s always been with me, and it’s been the way I’ve been growing up, how I was raised, and just part of my natural physiology. It’s not too bad; just making sure that I’m eating the right foods, and I’m not overdoing it and bulking up too much where I might sacrifice might speed. [I] make sure I’m at a happy medium.

JI: What was it like to participate in the College Gridiron Showcase?

MVV: I’m definitely grateful for the experience. It helped me put my name on the map. Going into it, [it was] obviously a little nerve wracking, because. you’re going against FCS, FBS, and upper-level D1 and D2 guys. It’s a little different coming from D3, when you’re just playing against the local guys in your area. Once you put the helmet and short pads on, it’s just football, and I believe in what I’m able to do, in my ability. Once you started throwing the ball around and doing those drills, I felt a lot more comfortable, and [I] just had to prove myself and show everyone else what I can do.

JI: How do you like to spend your free time outside of football?

MVV: A lot of it’s just hanging out with my roommates, hanging out with my friends. We play a lot of backyard games, weight lift, workout, play some volleyball, some bags, some pick-up basketball. [We’re] just hanging out, getting outside and moving around.

JI: Let’s say I’m an NFL General Manager. What would I be getting if I drafted you to my team?

MVV: I think I have a really high ceiling. Right now, I believe my abilities and my skill set is as good, if not better than the competition, in terms of what everyone else is doing. But I also think that I’ve only played two years of [college] football, so I still have a lot of building, a lot of learning I can do. I think my ceiling of my athletic ability is really high. I can come in, I can help on special teams, or be like a practice squad player, get some good minutes right off the bat. At the same time, I have a really high ceiling, so I can grow into being a high-level player at the next level.