How Valley tight end Eli Raridon blossomed into a blue-chip football prospect

Eli Raridon was born into a football family, but strength wasn't necessarily his thing. Length was. He was always taller, lankier than his peers.

So, entering high school, Raridon planned to play basketball in college.

And, of course, sometimes plans change.

Because now, three years and plenty of strength later, the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Raridon has blossomed into one of the Midwest's most sought-after tight ends. His basketball career hasn't gone by the wayside, though. Instead, in this COVID-19 recruiting era, where college coaches can't see prospects in person and are desperate for any way to evaluate someone, Raridon's dunks and hardwood athleticism at West Des Moines Valley have helped turn him into a football must-have.

"These schools obviously love how I block and all the stuff I do as a tight end, but I think they really like my basketball film from an athletic standpoint," Raridon told the Register this week. "When they see my basketball film, they can put that together with my football film. Usually, they tell me they just see my potential and they love what they see on the basketball court."

Raridon is averaging 17.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 62.1% for the 14-3 Tigers. He just logged a 27-point, 11-rebound double-double in a win over Linn-Mar. He said college coaches often bring up his basketball season and say they plan to continue watching him if Valley makes it to March's state tournament.

This isn't to say Raridon was unknown in football before coaches saw him play basketball. 

Iowa State offered him in spring after his sophomore year. Soon, Missouri and Iowa started showing interest. Then, when his junior football film started circulating, and colleges saw the athletic, tall kid had added considerable strength, offers flowed.

By the end of Valley's season, in which Raridon caught 22 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns, he had tacked on offers from Buffalo, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Kansas State, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia and Florida State. 

He was a legitimate Power Five recruit. But he wasn't at the level he is now.

Any prospect's recruiting stock soars up a level when Notre Dame offers, and Raridon landed a Fighting Irish offer Feb. 9. Since then, Minnesota, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and most recently Tennessee have offered. He's got a call with Auburn later this week, and UCLA is showing consistent interest, too.

WHERE DOES RARIDON STACK UP? The Register's in-state 2022 recruiting rankings

Valley head coach Gary Swenson credits much of Raridon's recruiting explosion to his growth on the football field, especially in terms of confidence and blocking. But he also knows from talking to college coaches how difficult their job is right now. They need ways to evaluate prospects without being able to see them in person. Football film is great. But once you've seen that 100 times, you need something else.

Swenson talks about how Des Moines North running back Deavin Hilson's basketball film helped land him his Iowa offer this month. He sees Raridon's basketball film giving him a similar sort of recruiting boost.

"His basketball footage that people are looking at? It’s pretty impressive. He’s a high-flyer. He can do some things around the rim that are pretty impressive," Swenson said. "I think people like his athleticism. They have to go on that kind of stuff right now.

"I think, with Eli, they can see he’s legitimately long. He’s just a tall kid. Yet he can move like this. So, yeah, that’s a pretty good formula for recruitment."

In terms of his recruitment, Raridon said programs such as Iowa, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Kansas State, Minnesota and Indiana are consistently recruiting him hard. He also expects serious recruitment from Tennessee, who just offered this week. Alex Golesh, Iowa State's former tight ends coach, is the Volunteers' offensive coordinator, and he was eager to offer Raridon after moving to Knoxville.

"When he left for Central Florida," Raridon said of Golesh, who coached at UCF between Iowa State and Tennessee, "he was telling me, 'You have better opportunities than this. But now that I’m at Tennessee, (I’ve) finally got a chance with you.'"

The Cyclones have been involved with Raridon the longest. The result? The Register's No. 4 in-state 2022 prospect has strong relationships throughout Iowa State's staff.

"I’ve been getting pretty close with them. I talk to coach (Matt) Campbell almost every week, maybe every two weeks," Raridon said. "It’s really appealing, obviously, because they have three tight ends they play all the time. It’s really cool to see them use three tight ends. It’s good for me to see because it makes me feel like I can go in there and make an impact. And obviously coach Campbell is turning them around with their first New Year's Six win. 

"You see people like that Eli Sanders kid. A couple years ago, people would have chosen Iowa over Iowa State 100%. And now him and (Jacob) Imming chose Iowa State over Iowa. So I think he's definitely making a huge impact on definitely in-state players who have both options and even anyone else who has both options out of state, too."

• MORE: Why Jacob Imming picked the Cyclones over the Hawkeyes
• MORE: How Iowa and Iowa State tried to land Eli Sanders

Iowa has made a strong push to prioritize Raridon since offering him, as well. Raridon regularly talks with Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz and had a call with offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Brian Ferentz this week.

"It’s been picking up also," Raridon said of his relationship with Iowa. "Obviously, since last year, I’ve been talking to coach (Jay) Niemann almost every week, every two weeks. So I’m really close with him. But what appeals to me about them is obviously their tight end tradition. They’ve obviously produced numerous NFL tight ends. They use tight ends really well, too; they use 12-personel a lot. And just the development of their tight ends really stands out to me with them."

The NCAA recently extended the COVID-19-caused dead recruiting period to May 31, meaning Raridon and other prospects can't take any spring visits. There is hope that the NCAA will lift the dead period June 1 and allow summer recruiting visits.

No matter when visits are allowed, Raridon hopes to wait to take some before he makes a college decision — "Just so I can visit and meet coaches face to face," he said. 

In a perfect world, those visits happen in the summer and he can commit before his senior football season. But Raridon also said he's willing to push things into the fall if that's the only way he can take visits.

He's the type of prospect that can afford to do that, too. Schools will wait for him.

"He’s 6-6 and change and he can run. His catch radius is huge. The toughness now is no longer a question," Swenson said. "His best football is ahead of him."

Matthew Bain covers recruiting and pretty much anything else under the sports sun for the Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Network.  Contact him at mbain@dmreg.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.