Next year, when Detroit Cass Tech center Raheem Anderson II decides which college he wants to attend, making the announcement should be a snap.
It certainly couldn’t be any tougher than when he decided to enroll at Cass as a ninth grader. He had to break the news to his father, Raheem, who was a mainstay in the trenches for the late 80s football teams at arch-rival Detroit King.
“We had an agreement – I told him ‘If you keep your grades high, you could pick the school that you want to go to,” his father explained. “He got a 4.0, he shook my hand, he looked me in the eye, and said, ‘Dad, I want to go to Cass.’ It was rough (for me to hear), but it was like, I don’t want to micro-manage his life.
It turned out to be a fruitful move for the 6-foot-3, 298-pound Anderson, who’s received 19 scholarship offers – including one from Michigan, which seems to be where he’s leaning.
According to 247 Sports Composite, Anderson is the second-ranked center in the country among the class of 2021 and the No. 6 junior in the state.
“First of all, academics is the main thing on my list (influencing a decision),” said Anderson, who carries a 3.5 grade-point average and wants to major in electrical engineering. “I’m also looking at the stability of football coaches they have, and to see if the team is like a family.”
But there seems to be no rush on closing in on a decision.
“He’s enjoying the recruiting process right now; we just left from Syracuse, we’re going to another game at Notre Dame in a couple of weeks,” Anderson’s dad said. “It’s his junior year; I just want him to enjoy being recruited, and soon enough he’ll make the decision, and we’ll go from there.”
Like he did when he chose Cass Tech as an incoming ninth-grader.
“It’s like he was saying he wants to create his own legacy,” said the elder Anderson. “By me going to King, he didn’t know anybody over at Cass, so he earned it himself. Nobody had any reason to show any favoritism, so it was all his hard work and effort.”
