Northeast’s Naquil Betrand was ‘a late bloomer’ as an offensive tackle and is now a coveted recruit
Betrand after a position switch and overcoming an injury has emerged as a top offensive lineman at his third school in as many years, and Colorado is among the college programs to have taken notice.
The first thing that stuck out to Bubba Kent was Naquil Betrand’s size.
Kent, the offensive line coach at Northeast High, was manning his spot on the sideline when he noticed the 6-foot-7 Betrand towering over his West Catholic teammates on the opposite side of the field. Betrand didn’t play a single snap in that game, but Kent remembered that moment. When Betrand transferred to Northeast the following year, Kent knew exactly what his offensive line was getting.
“I didn’t know that was him at the time,” Kent said. “Just his size. You can teach a lot of things, but you can’t teach size. That was the one thing that really stood out to me. Fast-forward to him coming over to us, and it was great to see him come to us.”
Listed at 6-foot-7 and 310 pounds, Betrand has fully grown into his position as an offensive tackle at Northeast. The junior finished his first season with the Vikings, a year that saw him emerge as a bona fide FBS talent. Betrand is rated as a three-star recruit by 247Sports and has committed to play college football at the Power 5 level with Colorado in the Pac-12.
But Betrand wasn’t always a towering offensive lineman. In fact, his junior year with Northeast was his first full, healthy season at the position.
Betrand started his high school football career at Imhotep Charter High School, where he played a hybrid of wide receiver and tight end. It wasn’t until he transferred to West Catholic ahead of his sophomore year that he put on weight and made the move to the offensive line.
Once he made the position switch, Betrand had to learn a new set of fundamentals and techniques. He also had to deal with an injury that further complicated his transition.
“It was a little rough because I wasn’t really used to it,” Betrand said. “And I had a broken hand my 10th-grade year, so I wasn’t really [playing] tough. … I didn’t like it. It was too hard; I couldn’t do anything.”
For as much as the offensive line is about size and strength, it’s also about finesse and technique. Kent, a former Division I offensive lineman at Delaware State, knew how integral hands are to playing the offensive line effectively.
“The first thing that jumps off the page when it comes to [the injury] is toughness,” Kent said. “Being able to play with an injury is one thing … you need your hands to play offensive line. You can’t do anything without your hands. So, being able to fight through that, week in and week out, showed the type of kid that he is.”
When Betrand’s hand healed, he immediately got to work with Kent on the fundamentals of the position. Years of playing receiver and tight end had turned Betrand into an above-average athlete for the position. To capitalize on that athleticism, Kent’s favorite training tool for Betrand became agility ladder work. Using the ladders helped Kent train Betrand to make quick decisions with his body, a skill that’s invaluable at the line of scrimmage.
Combined with hours in the film room, this one-on-one work helped set Betrand up for a breakout junior season this past fall. After two effectively lost seasons because of the position switch, his broken hand, and the pandemic, Betrand knew he had to capitalize on his in-game reps.
“I was thinking that I needed to have a good season, or else I’m not going to college for free,” Betrand said. “Eleventh-grade year is the most peak year and the best year you’re going to have to get looked at if you have no offers in ninth or 10th grade.
“I went into that year just saying I got to dominate everybody in front of me and do my job and make sure to help the team win in any type of way possible.”
Betrand did exactly that, with a season good enough to put him on the recruiting map. After the Vikings’ season, Betrand hauled in offers from the likes of Washington, Colorado, Temple, and, most recently, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and West Virginia.
Betrand’s performance against some of Philadelphia’s biggest defensive names helped him make a name of his own. Perhaps the biggest of those performances came against Betrand’s former school, Imhotep.
With a defensive front that included eventual Texas A&M signee Enai White and Penn State signee Keon Wylie, Imhotep was one of the biggest defensive challenges Betrand could have faced. When the 6-foot-7 tackle held the pair to zero sacks, Northeast head coach Eric Clark made sure schools knew exactly what that meant.
“I tell coaches that he’s not going against some undersized defensive lineman that may not be playing at the highest level,” Clark said. “I’ve told them, when they evaluate him, evaluate him against the best of the best.”
His coaches know that as good as last season was, it still was Betrand’s first full season at the position. With spring practices already underway, Betrand knows exactly what he wants to work on as he prepares for an even bigger 2022 season.
“I want to win more as a team, get better as a team,” Betrand said. “I want to work a little more on pass blocking. I’m good at that, but I want to get even better. I want to work on run blocking more, learn the game more, and learn how to see defenses.”
While Betrand may have gotten a late start in recruiting, those around him are expecting that schools are going to be taking notice over the next few months.
“Some schools are still offering him,” Clark said. “I think before it’s all said and done, he’ll have every major offer from every major college in the country. Right now, he’s very interested, thankful, grateful, and excited to be committed to Colorado at the same time. He’s a late bloomer, so a lot of schools are just getting wind of him right now.”