IUP Athletic Hall of Fame
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Any discussion of the most dynamic pass receivers in school history must include Carmelo Ocasio, whose name is scattered throughout the IUP record book.
Ocasio ranks second only to 2012 IUP Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Jai Hill with 165 receptions, 2,891 receiving yards and 34 touchdown catches during his career. He also trails only Hill - his position coach for two years - in single-season receiving yards (1,122 in 2001) and receiving touchdowns (16 in 2002).
Ocasio caught a career-high 65 passes as a senior, most of them from fellow 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Brian Eyerman.
A third-team pick in 2002 on the Associated Press Little All America team, which encompasses all NCAA Division II and III and NAIA players, Ocasio was a three-time All-PSAC selection and was tabbed to play in the Cactus Bowl, the Division II all-star game in Kingsville, Texas.
IUP won 36 games and three PSAC West championships during Ocasio’s four seasons in uniform and qualified for the NCAA playoffs all four years. The Indians advanced to the national semifinals his freshman season and to the quarterfinals his senior year, when IUP finished 11-2.
Ocasio, a senior program manager, autistic pediatric campus, for Bancroft health care provider in Mount Laurel, N.J., resides in Reading. He is the father of three children: Jecinda, Carmelo III and Chiara
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