Rasheed Rankin has one more year to go at Rancho Cotate High School. He runs the 40 in 4.77 and weighs 225. He squats 525. I have known him since he was 7. He was my son's Pop Warner teammate. He was the most modest kid on the team. When the little girl across the street was being bullied in his daycare he stuck up for her. I knew then that he had a future in football. He also plays basketball. Here are a few highlights:
https://www.hudl.com/profile/6048830/Rasheed-Rankin

MugsVanSant said:

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Rasheed Rankin has one more year to go at Rancho Cotate High School. He runs the 40 in 4.77 and weighs 225. He squats 525. I have known him since he was 7. He was my son's Pop Warner teammate. He was the most modest kid on the team. When the little girl across the street was being bullied in his daycare he stuck up for her. I knew then that he had a future in football. He also plays basketball. Here are a few highlights:
https://www.hudl.com/profile/6048830/Rasheed-Rankin

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What are his grades like?

I don't know exactly. However I do know that he has already received an offer from William & Mary. The average GPA for W&M is 4.19.

MugsVanSant said:

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Rasheed Rankin has one more year to go at Rancho Cotate High School. He runs the 40 in 4.77 and weighs 225. He squats 525. I have known him since he was 7. He was my son's Pop Warner teammate. He was the most modest kid on the team. When the little girl across the street was being bullied in his daycare he stuck up for her. I knew then that he had a future in football. He also plays basketball. Here are a few highlights:
https://www.hudl.com/profile/6048830/Rasheed-Rankin

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4.77 at RB/OLB is probably going to keep him from getting any power conference offers in football, I would think.

According to the Wikipedia article, the "average" time for the 40 at the NFL combine for fullbacks is 4.80. Rasheed has the size and speed of an NFL fullback with a year left in high school.

Wait, we are talking about fullbacks?

Sorry, I'm sure if the staff wanted to find a FB, they could do it.

MugsVanSant said:

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According to the Wikipedia article, the "average" time for the 40 at the NFL combine for fullbacks is 4.80. Rasheed has the size and speed of an NFL fullback with a year left in high school.

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If he wanted to be a fullback at the college level (and I'm not sure how many teams use a fullback in their base sets these days), he'd probably have to get bigger. I'm pretty confident that the average weight of NFL fullbacks in the Wikipedia article isn't 225.

ColoradoBear said:

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Wait, we are talking about fullbacks?

Sorry, I'm sure if the staff wanted to find a FB, they could do it.

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We have used preferred walkons at FB for decades.

Is that a reason to continue to do so? When was the last time we won the Rose Bowl?

MugsVanSant said:

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Is that a reason to continue to do so? When was the last time we won the Rose Bowl?

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Baldwin barely used McMorris. But admission to Cal as a preferred walk-on could be a great opportunity.

It blows me away that here is a kid with the size and speed to be an NFL fullback while still a junior in high school and some people doubt that he can play for Cal.

40s are pretty meaningless and extremely unreliable. The kid can ball, and that's what matters.

MugsVanSant said:

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It blows me away that here is a kid with the size and speed to be an NFL fullback while still a junior in high school and some people doubt that he can play for Cal.

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The issue is not the kid, the issue is that Baldwin runs an offense that does not use a FB. We had a similarly elite difference maker in McMorris and he was barely used. We need athletes, but if there is a spot for him on this team it is more likely to be TE, LB or DE.

The kid did not look like a fullback at all. Probably a linebacker.

MugsVanSant said:

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It blows me away that here is a kid with the size and speed to be an NFL fullback while still a junior in high school and some people doubt that he can play for Cal.

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Welcome to D1 football recruiting. Fit for a given position, performance & technique on tape, measurables are the most important factors in recruiting. At Cal, throw in academics.

It may be that he has good academics but not the right position or fit or measurables (just one aspect, e.g. height, weight, speed, etc. will eliminate a kid) . Maybe his acceleration is a step too slow, he has trouble eluding tacklers, he is average in catching passes, the teams they play are weak, etc.

The fact that no other D1 programs are recruiting him (?) is a tip off that something isn't right for D1. EVERYBODY who gets a D1 scholarship is All-Conf, All-City, All-League, dominates their league, etc. etc. blah blah blah. Being a stud in a local area just doesn't mean that much.

If he's posting his tape on the web & contacting the schools he wants to attend, there just isn't that much more he can do. Almost every school now has a web site where a kid can contact the football program & make available his tape. It's a brutal process at best.

He also plays linebacker, in fact. If his team had somebody else to play linebacker his offensive play would be even more impressive. Again, he has the size and speed of an NFL fullback with one more year of high school to go. That is not to say that he should play fullback. That was just to show he is fast and big. If the objection is that our offense does not use a fullback, how well has that offense been working for us lately?

Let's throw the FB thing out. He's not a FB and nobody is gonna offer a FB when they can be had as a walk on. Plus the notion that we're a FB away from a Rose Bowl and respectable offense is absurd.

4.77 is simply not fast enough for a RB. And if we're being honest that's probably a hand timed 40 and those times are always faster than reality. He's gonna have to get that closer to 4.55 if we're being honest. That would be comparable to Laird who is not a fast RB.

If he's truly 6-1 225 and runs a 4.77 as a junior (again I don't believe that time) then focus on defense. Work on speed and get to a legit 4.70 - a reasonable goal and not too bad for a HS ILB - and hit the summer camp circuit.

Bear19 said:

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MugsVanSant said:

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It blows me away that here is a kid with the size and speed to be an NFL fullback while still a junior in high school and some people doubt that he can play for Cal.

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Welcome to D1 football recruiting. Fit for a given position, performance & technique on tape, measurables are the most important factors in recruiting. At Cal, throw in academics.

It may be that he has good academics but not the right position or fit or measurables (just one aspect, e.g. height, weight, speed, etc. will eliminate a kid) . Maybe his acceleration is a step too slow, he has trouble eluding tacklers, he is average in catching passes, the teams they play are weak, etc.

The fact that no other D1 programs are recruiting him (?) is a tip off that something isn't right for D1. EVERYBODY who gets a D1 scholarship is All-Conf, All-City, All-League, dominates their league, etc. etc. blah blah blah. Being a stud in a local area just doesn't mean that much.

If he's posting his tape on the web & contacting the schools he wants to attend, there just isn't that much more he can do. Almost every school now has a web site where a kid can contact the football program & make available his tape. It's a brutal process at best.

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And, unless he is in an elite conf., he must totally dominate the game. Even in an elite conf., he must knock your eye out. There's something about legit D1 prospects compared to great hs players. I can't explain it, but you know it when you compare. Probably a combination of strength and coordination. Films of whole games will probably tell the tale.