Ragoo's size should help bolster FAU offensive line
By Chuck King
The Big Ragoo is gargantuan.
Johnathan Ragoo stands 6-foot-8, and weighs close to 400 pounds. Beginning in the spring he will be bringing that bulk to FAU's offensive line.
Ragoo signed with Minnesota of out Miami-Pace in 2010, but only stayed there for a year.
He was back in South Florida by the summer of 2011, enrolling at FAU and paying his own way.
Ragoo had injured his foot while at Minnesota and spent the fall of 2011 rehabbing the injury.
“He's 100 percent healthy, it's just a matter of getting back into football shape,” FAU coach Carl Pelini said.
Pelini met Ragoo shortly after taking over as the Owls' coach in December. He researched Ragoo's history, including talking to his high school coach.
By January he'd learned enough to offer Ragoo a scholarship, and Ragoo will take part in spring practice. Since he was already attending FAU, the scholarship is counted toward the roster maximum of 85, but does not count against the max of 25 for this year's signing class.
“Honestly, I looked at it as, Is he a guy we would have signed coming out this year?” Pelini said. “The answer was an emphatic 'yes'. He has great potential as an offensive tackle. He's got some work to do conditioning wise, but he has great potential.”
Ragoo's addition, plus the enrollment of JUCO linemen Mustafa Johnson (6-foot-3, 300 pounds) and Stern Vile (6-5, 335), stands to add some serious size to FAU's offensive line.
Pelini wouldn't anoint the threesome starters, but it stands to figure he brought Johnson and Vile in to make an immediate impact. If Ragoo can live up to his potential, FAU's offensive line – which already improved significantly last season, should be a force in 2012.