Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Meet Shane Rafter, Temple's Mr. Relevant
Shane Rafter's recruiting video.
If the last guy taken in the final round of the NFL draft is known as Mr. Irrelevant, you can call Shane Rafter Temple's Mr. Relevant.
Raftner earned that distinction by becoming the first player who verbaled to Temple for the class of 2013.
Raftner, a 6-5, 284-pound offensive lineman from Moorestown, N.J. is listed as "only" a two-star recruit in the Rivals.com database.
Now if there is ever a more "irrelevant" stat in sports, it is the star system as assigned by recruiting websites such as Rivals.com and Scout.com, particularly when it comes to offensive linemen.
It comes down to who do you trust, one of the greatest offensive line coaches in college football history, Steve Addazio, or a well-meaning Rivals.com employee sitting behind a computer who does not understand basic OL skills like leverage.
I'm going with Addazio on this first recruit.
One of the things I like about Addazio is that he does not give out one of the precious 25 scholarships like candy. I've only questioned one of his schollies and that's because it was given to an honorable mention Central League running back whose dad probably could have afforded the Temple tuition.
Al Golden once gave a quarterback scholarship based solely on the performance in a seven-on-seven passing drill at the Al Golden Football Camp. Probably not his best idea. Ironically enough, two of the first QB recruits Golden made AD (after Adam DiMichele) never had the kind of career this year's Mr. Irrelevant, Northern Illinois' Chandler Harnish, had. Now it looks like the third time was a charm for Golden, because that begat New Mexico Bowl MVP Chris Coyer. The difference between Coyer and the other two guys was that Coyer was a high achiever as a prep star and the others were not.
Addazio and line coach Justin Frye, also a product of the powerhouse Florida Gators' program, carefully evaluated Rafter before offering.
That's good enough for me.