Gary, right, dominated in the Under Armour All-American game Jan. 2. Fellow New Jersey recruit Kareem Walker, left, has decided to sign with Michigan.
Rashan Gary, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive tackle, has offers from U-M, Auburn, Ole Miss, Clemson, USC and Alabama.
Peter Kafaf knows that Rashan Gary is exceptional. Kafaf has tutored Gary, the nation’s No. 1 high school football prospect, on defensive line play for a few years.
They’ve become close enough that Kafaf can diagnose Gary’s playing problems — in the rare case one occurs — at a glance.
But it’s Gary’s soft touch off the field that has gained Kafaf’s respect.
For instance, Gary and Kakaf were doing one of their usual workouts at a Red Bank, N.J., football field when Kafaf saw a few local kids and invited them to join in. Gary was refining moves that may put him in the NFL by 2019 while the young players were hoping to just make the high school team.
“The kids were getting a big kick out of it, being with Rashan Gary,” Kafaf recalled. “They had their stuff in one pile on the 30-yard line and he had his stuff on the 5-yard line in another pile.
“After the workout was over, he picked up all his stuff, he walked all the way down to those kids when they were changing their shoes. He started changing his shoes and talking to them, saying that it’s great being a football guy but (talking about) the importance of education and nothing else matters if you don’t have an education. That’s Rashan Gary.”
As the 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive tackle closes in on the decision that will change his life, choosing the school where he will bestow his uncommon ability, that conversation may be a window into his thought process.
No. 1 recruit Gary visits U-M, choosing on Signing Day
Few close to him are sure what Gary will do Wednesday at 1 p.m. on ESPN, when he is expected to choose between Michigan, Auburn, Ole Miss, Clemson, USC and Alabama on National Signing Day.
But when Gary talks about what matters to him, he talks about education.
That’s a primary reason he took an unofficial visit to U-M last weekend, he told USA TODAY Sports at an Atlanta banquet where he was honored Thursday.
He wanted to sit in class and feel the other part of college life.
“I could see myself being a student there as more than a football player,” he told USA TODAY’s Dan Wolken.
Jersey boys
Rashan Gary won the defensive MVP trophy following the 2016 Under Armour All-American Game at Orlando Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2.
Since he was young — we won’t say little, because it’s unclear if he ever was — Gary has refused to wear the superstar tag.
Despite his commanding size, he just wanted to be a regular guy.
Michael Dwumfour was a similarly big kid from Scotch Plains, N.J., so when he and Gary ran into each other around age 11 or 12, they instantly connected.
“I saw him the first day at school and I (had been) the biggest one, then I came to school and I see this dude and he was bigger than me,” Dwumfour said. “From that day, we were just boys.”
Football, basketball, AAU, they were close, even if it became a bit heated at times when they were constantly battling each other.
“It was track practice, and we were doing strength and conditioning, and me and him were going at it, seeing who can flip the tires more and seeing who could do more squats and things like that,” Dwumfour recalled. “Sometimes it got very heated that they had to separate us. It was good competition, nothing that would have escalated.”
Recruiting: Full coverage
Finding someone similarly talented — Dwumfour is now a 6-foot-3, 300 pound nose tackle who plans to sign with Michigan on Wednesday — was a blessing for both.
But even then, Dwumfour could see a difference between himself and Gary.
As a freshman at Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Dwumfour was on the freshman team while Gary was already on the varsity.
“While he was waking up at 6 a.m. to go lift and run, I was at home sleeping,” Dwumfour recalled. “So I think he matured quicker than I did. Being that he got his first offer in eighth grade, he had no choice (but) to mature.”
Striving to improve
On Thursday, Rashan Gary talks to members of the media in Atlanta, while on hand to receive the Bobby Dodd national high school lineman of the year award at the Touchdown Club of Atlanta.
A few years into high school, they both decided to test their talent by transferring to bigger football powers, Dwumfour to DePaul Catholic and Gary to Paramus Catholic. (Then-Paramus coach Chris Partridge is now Michigan’s linebackers coach.)
It meant 4:45 and 5 a.m. wake-up calls, long car and bus rides. Scotch Plains to Paramus and DePaul are about 45-minute rides without traffic.
Playing for Paramus was about Gary maximizing his talent. He exploded onto the national scene, reinforcing his high rankings with a strong performance as a junior at Nike’s “The Opening” summer event.
Through a connection early in high school, Gary approached Kafaf, who coached 40 minutes away from Scotch Plains in Red Bank. Gary was already working with an agility and explosion trainer but realized there were finer points of the game he wanted to work on.
Kafaf had built a reputation as a guru, a volunteer teaching hand and foot technique to kids, simply because he enjoyed it. He didn’t charge but demanded the players work hard.
“Rashan was very, very raw to the sport,” Kakaf recalled. “He had not been coached on the type of technique he’s going to need to compete at the college level — very few kids are — so he showed up, a really cold night in March, all bundled up in this hat, glasses and braces. He was like a little kid. He didn’t know how to get into a stance. …
“The first thing I did was show him some hand techniques, martial arts that translate directly into football, and he was sold. When he saw the violence of hands and the effectiveness of hands, you could see him light up.”
Pairing his massive physical tools with that knowledge turned Gary into an enormous force, but one who still could be stopped on occasion.
A year ago, Gary was matched up against a strong but far less talented player, Adam Kakar.
“We always have one-on-ones, and coach Kafaf was trying me out at O-line so he had me go up against him,” Kakar said. “Yeah, I turned him over and I put him on the floor.”
It stunned Gary as well as those watching.
Rare as they were, those moments kept Gary working with Kafaf. And the results were clear to see, especially at camps and in January’s Under Armour game, in which Gary was unstoppable.
Rising to the top
Rashan Gary
Praise for Gary has been constant, and it began early.
NJ Advance Media recruiting reporter Todderick Hunt caught the first whispers when Gary was offered by Rutgers and attended its big man camp — as an eighth-grader.
“It can be dangerous going out there as a younger guy that hasn’t fully developed, but that’s what showed how special Rashan could be,” said Hunt, who watched a video of the reporter-restricted camp. “He held his own. He competed and certainly looked the part. … I was definitely intrigued to stumble upon a promising young player like that.”
Watching him maul opponents the past four years has only earned Gary more admirers.
“He’s very athletic and he’s faster than you think,” said Camden (N.J.) defensive end Ron Johnson, a Michigan commit who has seen Gary play. “He has a very fast first step, and he attacks the offensive linemen.”
No. 1 recruit Rashan Gary: ‘It’s getting crazy’
“He also separates himself when it comes to maturity, understanding the process, handling it well, continuing to develop, not sitting on being called the best, always looking to improve and still having a mind-set going into events and games with a chip on his shoulder,” Hunt said. “Those are the little things that will make him great. You watch his skill set, and he has the ability to be the next Reggie White.”
Gary seems to be exceptionally humble for someone thrust into the spotlight. He is the consensus No. 1 player of the 2016 class and could be one of the great recruits in the modern era.
Driven and extremely confident, he has been turned off by the party scenes at some schools and remains a nice kid in a big body.
“He’s still the same exact kid I met the first day I saw him,” said Kakar, who has known Gary since his freshman year of high school. “I see all this stuff on social media. He’s literally getting people tweeting about him every other second. He’s a celebrity at this point, but he hasn’t changed one bit. He’s still the same kid, awesome to hang out with.”
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