At face value, Colorado safety Derrion Rakestraw certainly has had a college football journey that resembles more of a winding road as opposed to a straightaway.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior underwent a collegiate transition from wide receiver, at which the old Mike MacIntyre administration recruited him, to defensive back by the time spring ball of his redshirt freshman year had ended.
From there, Rakestraw grinded it out on special teams before seeing action on 262 defensive snaps in seven games for the Buffs in 2018.
Then, during Mel Tucker's first and ultimately only year at the helm in Boulder, Rakestraw solidified himself as Colorado's starting safety opposite Mikial Onu beginning in week four.
Now, he's ready to continue his upward trajectory as a senior.
“It’s been a long road for sure but I feel like because of all the obstacles that I went through to get here, it’s really made me into the player that I am today," he said. "It’s given me a lot of confidence just with the fact that I’m getting into my second year with this system and playbook — I’m getting really comfortable back there."
Since Karl Dorrell got to town and settled in with his new coaching staff, Rakestraw was excited to learn that a familiar face from his past would now oversee his positional development. Brett Maxie recruited Rakestraw out of Sequoyah High School in Georgia when the former was at Vanderbilt.
On top of their prior relationship, Maxie can relate to Rskestraw and help him develop further, having himself underwent a collegiate position change from offense to defense.
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“I have a great relationship with coach Maxie and I have since high school," Rakestraw said. "He was recruiting me and came to my spring game when he was at Vandy. We’ve always had a great relationship and it’s really good to have a true safeties coach on the staff that can really focus on the specifics of playing the role of safety. I think that’s really going to help us out a lot. He’s a great coach and a great dude so it’s great that we have him.”
Last season, Rakestraw was third on team among snaps by a defensive back (601) and he was the only other player besides Onu to record more than a single interception (3). From a confidence point of view, Rakestraw looks ready to pick up right where he left off in the defensive backfield last season.
“I’m extremely comfortable back there," he said. "Like I was saying, I’m excited and ready to get back on the field. This is my last go-around so I’m ready to go out there and show people what I can do. I’m ready to go out there as a team and win these games like we were doing at the end of (last) season. I’m ready to continue that trend into (2020).”
While Onu had a reputation last season as a player who came in and almost immediately undertook a role of leadership with CU's thin list of young DBs, now many of those responsibilities fall to the shoulders of Rakestraw, who is the most experienced safety on Colorado's roster.
In particular, he's taken to helping out the likes of new safeties Chris Miller and Jaylen Striker, both of whom last season played corner — Miller with the Buffs until his season-ending injury at Arizona State and Striker at Independence Community College.
“I think they’re great fits," he said. "Both of them are guys that really want to work and really want to get better. They’ve really been trying to learn the playbook and do everything they can. I’m going to help them out too along the way. They’ve been asking me questions and I’ve been helping them, so I think it’s going to be great.”
