Pitt FB Recruiting
Catching Up With Kwantel Raines
When it comes to elite recruits, few are bigger than Aliquippa’s Kwantel Raines. The 4-star safety is already ranked as one of the Top 100 players in the entire country for 2018 and will have his pick of any college he’d want to attend.
Want more evidence of how good Raines is? This week he was offered the chance to finish his last two years of high school playing for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
So, will Raines leave Aliquippa for Florida?
“I’ve already decided not to go and I’m going to stay at Aliquippa,” said Raines. “I got the invite but won’t be going. That’s one of the top schools in the nation but I don’t have enough time to really think about it.”
Raines told me that he needed to make the decision to attend or not by Monday.
Photo courtesy of Kwantel Raines
It will be a busy couple of weekends for Raines as he’s visiting two of the top schools on his list. This weekend, the junior safety was in State College visiting Penn State.
“I went to go watch practice, that’s about all I did. I was able to talk to all of the coaches.”
Next weekend, Raines will make another visit to his hometown school, Pat Narduzzi and Pitt. Is there any particular reason for making the visit to the South Side next weekend?
“I just want to touch base with the coaches. I haven’t been there in a few weeks so I just wanted to go back,” said Raines.
If you’re wondering if Raines could be close to making a decision, he isn’t telling me. It’s still too early for him and he doesn’t really have an idea of where he wants to go.
One thing to keep an eye is if Beaver Falls Donovan Jeter and Clairton’s Lamont Wade end up choosing Pitt. If that happens, it could have an impact on what Raines ends up doing. A starting defense of Jeter, Wade, Damar Hamlin and Jordan Whitehead would be enticing to Raines.
“It would look good if we could all play on defense together,” said Raines. “I would say that it could be a factor.”
// Header image: Photo courtesy of Kwantel Raines
