Kendrick Raphael was a 'craftsman' in high school; He has that same mindset at NC State

Naples (Fla.) High School Varsity coach Rick Martin has seen a lot of high school football in his 21 years on staff at his alma mater. In his final season as the program’s freshman coach, a young Kendrick Raphael stuck out like a sore thumb — in a good way.

The way the running back ran on the field looked different than the other freshmen on the field. Martin, who had coached several players that eventually went on to play big-time college football, knew what a high-level player was supposed to look like. Raphael fit the bill.

Raphael, who’s now in his freshman season at NC State, possessed the “it” factor that those players that played on Thursdays before him had. It was just a matter of time and development before Raphael would etch his name into each contest he played in.

“Just the way he did it,” Martin said. “Some of the runs he had, some of the natural bend, the vision — it was that game where I was like, ‘OK, we might have something here.’”

Martin, who was promoted to the varsity job ahead of Raphael’s sophomore year, was right. He had the talent to be one of the top recruits in Florida, and it wasn’t difficult to help him get better, either. 

Raphael was hungry to improve, and not much was going to stop him. 

“You knew he had that ability, he had that talent. He could have said ‘this is what I’ve got, I’m good,’” Martin said. “The thing that set him apart from everyone else was just from Day 1, he wanted to be better. He was always the guy asking questions and they were good questions.”

‘Kendrick was a craftsman’

Martin was blunt. 

Most of the time, when a high school player puts in effort to learn and improve every day at practice, that player is someone grinding just to see the field at the varsity level. But Raphael, a three-star recruit out of high school, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, used each day to get better as a football player. 

That mindset is rare among high school players, Martin said. 

“I think it’s unique nowadays, period, for a kid that’s willing to humble himself everyday and have an understanding that he’s not where he can be,” Martin said. “It would have been very easy for Kendrick to use his raw ability and the talent that was given to him and just say, ‘I’m good, this is fine.’ … But he wasn’t like that.”

Raphael took any and all feedback from Martin and his staff to better himself on the field. He wanted to get the most out of his game — and it worked. 

“Kendrick was a craftsman,” Martin said. “He was someone who was constantly trying to perfect his craft. We watch film, and we grade film everyday, we make comments. He was the one guy when he was here that all that stuff really mattered. He took all of that in and he really tried to get better at the things he needed to get better at.”

Raphael’s mentality to improve helped him rush for 3,766 yards and 49 touchdowns with 117.7 rushing yards per game in three seasons on Naples’ varsity squad. That led to more than 20 Division I offers during his recruitment before Raphael committed to the Wolfpack in November of his senior year at Naples. He enrolled early at NC State this past January.

‘That’s what Kendrick does’

Standing 5-foot-11, Raphael is not the tallest or loudest person in the room. Martin described it as a “business-like” attitude, and that shows. 

This time a year ago, the Naples, Fla., native was playing with a few thousand fans on metal bleachers each Friday night. Now, the running back is playing in front of more than 56,000 in sold-out games at Carter-Finley Stadium. 

Raphael did not say a lot during a recent interview inside NC State’s Close-King Indoor Practice Facility, but when he did speak, his confidence was clear. He’s one of eight running backs on the Wolfpack roster, but has the second-most yards among the position group after he led the Pack with 16 carries for 85 yards against the Virginia Military Institute this past weekend.

“It’s great,” Raphael said of NC State’s running back room. “I’ve got a lot of older guys ahead of me, just guiding me. We all love each other, and are just there for each other. When I make a big play, you can see [Delbert Mimms III] cheering me on and the rest of them are right behind him.”

Raphael is behind redshirt junior Jordan Houston and sophomore Michael Allen in carries, but his breakout game against the Keydets might have carved out a few more opportunities for the freshman as the season goes on. 

The running back shined in fall camp, and his team-leading performance against VMI seemed to be an example of that. 

“I literally told one of the dudes at VMI, I was like ‘That boy is going to be hard,’” Wolfpack offensive lineman Lyndon Cooper said this week. “He’s one of the ones I’ve seen from the time he came in for spring ball. … Kendrick is going to be a really good player for us.”

For NC State coach Dave Doeren, Raphael has the natural running back abilities with balance and vision, but there is more to the position at the college level than just putting his head down and finding space. 

College running backs have to know the protections and the rest of the offense. Raphael continues to pick that up with more reps, but Doeren said it takes a little time for a freshman to hammer that down. 

“The one part of his game, as you’ve seen, he’s pretty good at running the football,” Doeren said. “He can see things, he’s got balance, he’s strong. It’s just continuing to get him game ready in all the other areas: improving his ball skills, improving his protections.”

Raphael, who was a sponge at the high school level, appears to have the same mentality when it comes to growing his game at NC State, too. Improving his protections are one step in that process. 

“Back in high school, it was just 90 pro,” Raphael said. “And now, I’m just reading the defense and fitting up on [defenders.]”

Through his first two games, Raphael has played against a top-10 team in Notre Dame and dazzled against VMI, which included hurdling a defender and cutting up field to pick up five more yards in the process. 

Though he’s a freshman tailback in a crowded position room, his confidence allowed him to fly through the air to avoid a tackle — even if he didn’t think he would stay in bounds after it.

“I thought I was going out of bounds, but I just stayed in,” Raphael said with a grin. “I used to hurdle, and I seen him going low, and I just went over top.”

Soon after the Wolfpack’s win over the Keydets, Martin received a text from an assistant coach asking if he saw Raphael’s stat line — an early career-best as he led the team in rushing. He had not, but when he texted his former running back, the clip of the hurdle soon followed in a reply. 

When Martin saw it, he was not surprised. That’s what he was used to seeing from Raphael.

“I watched that clip, and I watched his live reps against Notre Dame the previous week,” Martin said. “It’s kind of weird, obviously he’s at the next level and it’s a big jump because it’s a Power Five, but you watch him and you’re like, ‘That’s Kendrick. That’s what Kendrick does.’”