North Canyon versatile athlete signs with Fort Lewis
This is the 20th (and last) in a month-long series of profiles of Arizona high school seniors that signed with four-year colleges. Here's the full list (currently totaling 291) of players from within the state moving on to the next level.
SPOTLIGHT: 3/6/22
Coming off a junior season that saw him recognized as an Arizona Varsity award finalist as both Breakout Player of the Year and Defensive Lineman of the Year, Raef Wilkins followed it up with a solid senior year for North Canyon.
Wilkins was named the 5A Metro Region Defensive Player of the Year in 2021 after leading the Rattlers with 67 tackles (20.5 for a loss) and five sacks. He's a nasty 6-2, 280-pound player in the trenches and played on both sides of the line.
After last season, the offers began to come in. Wilkins earned a total of 10. He ultimately signed with Fort Lewis College, the last of the schools to make an offer. During the recruiting process, head coach Johnny Cox came by North Canyon to talk to Wilkins and some of his teammates.
One of the things that appealed to Wilkins about Fort Lewis was its location in Durango, Colorado.
"It was always a dream for me to play in Colorado," Wilkins said in an e-mail interview. "The school is far enough to where I am independent, but also close enough to where I can drive home on weekends. Also, they have a lot of extra activities for students and athletes to do during the year."
In addition to playing offensive guard, Wilkins lined up sometimes as a defensive end, sometimes as a defensive tackle, and also as an outside linebacker that would go into coverage against a slot receiver. According to the AIA website, the 5A Metro Region coaches named Wilkins to the First Team all-region as a defensive back. He'll be closer to the line of scrimmage in college.
"FLC is recruiting me for DL, but they said that they like me at OL as well," Wilkins said. "But right now, it looks like it might be DL for sure for me."
Aside from football, Wilkins is on the Track & Field team throwing the shot put and discus. He made it to state in both events in 2021. His distances at that meet last year were 116-2 for the discus and 41-7.75 for the shot.
Wilkins also stands out in the classroom at North Canyon. He was named to the Sports360AZ All-Academic Team as an Honorable Mention with his 3.94 weighted GPA. He plans to study Business at Fort Lewis.
Fort Lewis has made recruiting in Arizona a priority with this class. The Skyhawks had a total of 11 signees from the state, including two more from North Canyon. Running back Brock Biley and defensive end Marcus Hubbard will be joining Wilkins in Durango.
Cox was hired in January to be the new head coach at Fort Lewis. He was a wide receiver for the Skyhawks and is in the school's Hall of Fame. He has spent the last eight years at North Carolina Pembroke. Cox will be looking to turn around his alma mater as FLC struggled in 2021, going 0-11 overall and 0-9 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (Div. II).
Time will tell if this new Arizona contingent can help make that happen at Fort Lewis. Wilkins is looking forward to being a part of it."
"I'm really excited that I got an opportunity to keep playing in a state that I like and I will get to play with my friends and teammates again," Wilkins said.
