One of four recruits to commit to Colorado during the month of June, Derrion Rakestraw was a rare find for the Buffs. He is expected to be just the third prospect from the Peach State to sign with CU in the last 34 years. BuffStampede.com caught up with his coach at Woodstock (Ga.) Sequoyah to find out more.
First off, what do you consider to be Derrion Rakestraw's best attributes as a football player? What separates him from the other players in your league?
Sequoyah head coach James Teter: "He is very disciplined in everything he does. He is hard working in the weight room, hard working on the field. What probably separates him as a wide out is his route running and he is very fundamentally sound in his catching ability. He is a track guy that triple jumps, long jumps and high jumps. He can just jump out of the sky. He can leap."
On the flip-side, what are the areas in which Rakestraw needs to improve as a player?
"He has to get a little bit better at his blocking and if he was sitting here I would tell him the same thing. That is a pretty common thing with high school wide outs. He is a defensive player, too. He could probably be a little more physical defensively. Those would probably be the main things. Everything else he does really well. He starts both ways, returns kicks for us, returns punts. So he does everything for us and has ever since was a sophomore."
What was your reaction to his decision to commit to Colorado last month?
"He handled all of this very well and has had a very level-head about all of this. Most kids that have four or five schools coming in every day may get a little big headed. But he has always been calm, even-keeled and has seemed like he knew what he wanted. When Colorado presented what they have and what they offer, when he went and looked at it, he thought everything just fit him. I do think it is a good fit for him."
I know you coached Charles Clark, who is now Colorado's cornerbacks coach, back when he was in high school. Is that connection how the Buffaloes became aware of Rakestraw initially?
"Charles came to do his normal recruiting evaluation at the school and got to meet Derrion and they liked what they saw. When you meet him in person, with his personality, you get to like him. And then he is taller than what you think he is going to be. And he runs a lot faster than people think he does."
Rakestraw had 12 other offers, but Colorado was the biggest program to step up with an offer. What type of interest was he getting from other power conference programs?
"There were a lot that came and talked to him. Boston College, North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia, all those schools came and talked to him but they wouldn't pull the trigger. They were very interested but they wanted to keep evaluating. And then Colorado made no bones about it, they didn't need him to come to a camp, they didn't need him to do all the stuff. They liked what they saw and they thought he could really help their program so they were the biggest school that was really aggressive. Everybody else came and said, 'if he does X, Y, Z at camp, we'll offer.' I think that was a little bit of a turnoff. Here is Colorado, which is not even here close, and they are saying I am good enough to play for them. I think that may have weighed into his decision a little bit."
You talked briefly about his personality, could you expound on the type of person and leader Derrion is?
"For us, he is not going to be your big rah-rah leader. He is more of a lead by example kind of kid. He does a really, really good job whether it is in the classroom, weight room, on the football field, in track, in the hall, he leads by example. The other kids pick up on that and follow it, especially the other wide outs. He is a great kid off the field. It doesn't matter what he is doing. He is just a great, likeable kid. When the college coaches would come in and meet him, just his demeanor impressed them. Most kids may get a little big headed from all this stuff. I have had kids who walked in here in my office and looked at a coach's shirt and if it wasn't the right school, they just didn't want to talk to them. It didn't matter if it was a Division-3 school or a big school, Derrion treated them all the same, which was good."
