Garden State Harvest

On November 6, 1869, the Rutgers Queensmen hosted the Princeton Tigers in the first game of intercollegiate football in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Since that day, college football has exploded throughout the U.S., but with only one school in the Garden State elevated to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision the area’s talent is always searching for a home.

The Aggies have reaped the benefits with a pair of wrecking balls on the defensive line – sophomore Fadil Diggs and junior Isaiah Raikes. Although Texas A&M is over 1,500 miles from their familiar surroundings, Aggieland immediately left the pair with a sense of belonging.

“Texas A&M stood out to me,” Diggs said. “I wanted to go to a school that felt like home, and it is crazy I found it somewhere so far from my real home.”

While Diggs hails from East Camden, Raikes grew up about 15 minutes away in Woodbury and he was attracted for a similar reason.

“Our biggest thing is to get them here,” assistant head coach and defensive ends coach Elijah Robinson said. “It is hard to walk away and not love it here. An example of that is Isaiah. When he first got here, he fell in love with A&M and he opened up. That just shows the comfort of this place and the people in it.”

It was an unusual first season in Aggieland for the pair as COVID created havoc. Diggs played in one game, logging two tackles against South Carolina. Raikes did not see the field, but he was honored as the team’s Defensive Most Improved Player after a successful spring.

“When he first got here, Isaiah was still trying to find his way and his role on the team,” Robinson said. “Now he is accountable, dependable, and available, and he is a guy we ask a lot of. He has really grown into a leader on the field and in the classroom.”

Expending buckets of sweat in the offseason, they both saw their roles expand immensely in their second season. The pair spent their time learning and improving their play while playing with NFL draftees Micheal Clemons and DeMarvin Leal.

Diggs played all 12 games in 2021, racking up nine tackles, including two solo stops. He notched 2.5 tackles for loss with one sack on the season and blocked a punt against Prairie View.

“Fadil is a hard-working football player,” Raikes said. “He loves football and is dedicated to the game. He changed his mentality when he got here. He wants to be a dominant player in the SEC and he works for it.”

Raikes also saw action in every game in his second season at Texas A&M. He registered eight tackles, including four solo takedowns.

“Isaiah has developed some leadership traits, and it really started showing last year,” defensive line coach Terry Price said. “He has worked hard and has helped us in a variety of roles. He leads by example.”

This season, all their growth, hard work and leadership have led them to roles as team captains. The leadership role is a source of pride, not just for the two players.

“The first time I saw them both walk onto the field it made me smile,” Robinson said. “You get these young men out of their element. You get them to trust in you and the program. For them to go through that process and walk out as captains is special. They set an example for the other northeastern kids that they can move away from home and do great things.”

Flourishing in their roles as captains, Diggs and Raikes are enjoying impressive 2022 campaigns on the Aggie defensive line. 

Diggs is the leading stopper among the interior line with 24 tackles, including 13 solo stops in his first year as a starter. He also has 5.0 TFL, 3.0 sacks and three forced fumbles. Despite the loss to Alabama, he opened eyes against the Crimson Tide, logging six tackles, including two TFL, and punched the ball loose twice for the first forced fumbles of his career.

Raikes has played in all seven games, including two starts. He has 15 tackles, including nine solo stops. He has 1.5 TFL and a half-sack on the year.

The duo is part of an impressive pipeline flowing out of the Philadelphia metro area. Standouts and up-and-comers from the Keystone State side of the Delaware River include Tyreek Chappell, Elijah Jeudy and Enai White, all listing Philadelphia as their hometown. Two hours inland, Andre White Jr broke the seal on the recruiting area, heading to Aggieland from Harrisburg.

“They come here with that chip on their shoulder,” Robinson said. “They always hear about the ball down south, but when you live in the north you may not have all of those resources, but they make it work.”

A big part of the emergence of the northeast corridor is the efforts of Coach Robinson. Robinson’s hometown is Camden, New Jersey where he enjoyed an all-state career at Woodrow Wilson High School, the same program that prepped Diggs. 

“Fadil and I are from the same city,” Robinson said. “We have an edge to us and we are out to prove people wrong. Since he has been here, he has been nothing but a leader. He has done a great job in the classroom and he has been a hell of a teammate. I’m proud of him.”

As with most people the biggest adjustment for Diggs and Raikes was the famed Texas heat.

“The biggest changes were the heat and just being away from home and my family was hard,” Raikes said. “Once I adapted to it, I felt at home, but I still enjoy going back. I’d rather play in the extreme heat than the cold up in the north, so even though it is an adjustment, I like it a lot better.”

“The heat was the biggest adjustment for sure, but I got used to it after a while,” Diggs said. “The A&M atmosphere and my relationships with my teammates also let me feel more at home when I was far from Jersey.”

With the adjustments made, Diggs and Raikes have made a home in Aggieland. With all the talk of Texas football and Florida football, the tandem from the outskirts of Philly are defending Jersey football and showing they can compete, too.