California TE Jaxton Santiago Previews BC Official
Boston College will be hosting about ten football prospects on official visits this coming weekend and no one will travel from farther away than Jaxton Santiago, a 6'3, 215-pound tight end/hybrid from Bakersfield (Calif.) Centennial.
That's not the only visit Santiago has planned.
"I have Boston College this weekend and then I'll come back to Cali for two weeks. Then the 15th through the 17th I'll be at Princeton, and then right after that I'm at Yale."
The Ivy League schools can foot the bill for those visits except for the transportation.
"I've been talking to Spencer Dickaw for a long time, all the way back to the middle of last football season. They've been sending mail and I've kinda built a pretty good relationship with him, especially more recently after they offered.
"I've also been getting closer with Coach Hafley. We text pretty regularly. We're getting pretty close, I'd say. It's also been enjoyable talking to him. There aren't a lot of schools where you feel like the head coach is a normal person. Coach Hafley is just a normal person. He's not some guy way up above where you're at. We don't have to text super formally."
Santiago is labeled a tight end on Rivals.com, but he's not necessarily a throwback.
"They see me at what they call an F, which is a little bit of an H-Back role, flexed out. Someone who has the ability to catch the ball and make plays in space but also come inside and block to seal off edges," Santiago said.
Distance won't be a factor in his choice. Santiago has never been to the Northeast but he'll be spending plenty of time there in June.
"I feel like a lot of people kinda view (location) as a negative, but I've always said I'm not scared to travel," Santiago said. "I want to see the world. I know it's still just the United States, but I'm not shy of travel or being away from home. I would do well being away from home. It's not that I love being away from family, but I'm a pretty independent person and I think I would thrive in a place like that, as long as it feels like a separate home."
Santiago had 49 receptions for 983 yards and 13 touchdowns for Centennial last season. He had 32 catches for 632 yards and six scores as a sophomore the year before that.