Kwantel Raines standing out at BUBO for Owls
Once Kwantel Raines entered the transfer portal, he didn’t have much time to make a decision.
Raines no longer felt at home in West Virginia after his former head coach, Dana Holgerson, left for Houston.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound BUBO heard from Temple's Director of Player Personnel Adam DiMichele, who he already knew. DiMichele set Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League records as a quarterback at Sto-Rox High School just outside Pittsburgh prior to his playing career at Temple, and Raines played his high school football not too far away at Aliquippa. He’s known DiMichele for a long time and they had a solid enough relationship to where Raines felt comfortable in committing to Temple.
Location also played a factor in his decision.
Raines was ineligible for the 2020 season after not being granted a hardship waiver. Rather than sticking around in North Philadelphia while unable to play, he returned home to Alippiqua, about 35 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh.
Sitting out for a season wasn’t exactly a smooth transition for Raines. He had never gone this long before without playing football.
“I feel like I’ve been away from football for so long,” he said during Thursday’s media availability. “I’ve been playing football for 17 years and I had to sit out a year, so all I could do was watch. I took a lot of mental reps, watched a lot of film and saw what they had going on here. So when I came and inserted myself in, I picked it up.”
However, since making it back on the field, Raines has hit the ground running.
His position coach, Brett Diersen, and defensive coordinator, Jeff Knowles, have been impressed with what he’s shown through spring practice thus far.
“He has an unbelievable football IQ,” Diersen said. “He’s talented, don’t get me wrong. He has a good skill set, but his football IQ is really good. There's obviously some things every practice that we learn together, but he is savvy.”
“It’s funny because we never got to see him play because he wasn’t in spring ball. We only had one initial practice of spring ball,” Knowles added earlier this month. “He’s been a pleasant surprise so far. He’s athletic, he’s smart. As far as doing your job, he’s doing that right now. The focus for him definitely right now is he’s starting to figure out where he’s going after missing out on a ton of reps in the fall. Now, let’s play with that extra strain and effort that we’re looking for."
Raines wasn’t exactly recruited to play the BUBO position - similar to an outside linebacker, but one with more duties in pass coverage - at West Virginia, but he was at Temple. He’s now one of four guys in that room, but he does have the most playing experience, even though he sat out last season.
“The year before last, they had Sam Franklin there,” Raines said,” and I’ve seen that he’s a pretty athletic guy. I can see the type of body type that they want to put there. Somebody that’s athletic, somebody that can be versatile. I like it.”
While Raines was recruited out of Aliquippa High School to play safety, he says he technically played the same position in Morgantown that the BUBO is now, just with a different label. Raines saw his first action with the Mountaineers during his true freshman campaign at the high safety position.
“Pretty much what our BUBO is here, they called it a safety,” Raines said. “We ran a 3-3-5, so technically it’s the same position, linebacker or safety, whatever you want to call it.”
The following season, Raines played in the slot, while also seeing time as the weak side backer (WILL). While he was moved around a lot during his time in West Virginia, it was all the same to him, he added.
Playing in six games for the Mountaineers in 2019, he recorded nine total tackles and a forced fumble.
Now, he’s just happy to be back on the field with the Owls.
“Sitting out for a year, it’ll make you really realize football can be over at any moment,” Raines said. “So, you really got to take advantage of every second that you get to play.”