From Meriden Connecticut, the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder held three offers out of high school before enrolling at Temple in 2022. He appeared in four games that year, using it as his redshirt season.
He continued to contribute in a backup role in 2023. Playing in eight games, he recorded nine total tackles, including a tackle for loss, as well as two quarterback hurries.
In 2024, he appeared in 12 games, starting one of those and recording 25 total tackles, a blocked kick, and a quarterback hurry. The blocked punt came in a game against UConn and was recovered in the end zone by a teammate for a touchdown. He also returned a punt for nine yards on special teams.
Either we found a diamond in the rough or we whiffed on a bunch of other guys. I don't see how getting a backup linebacker on a 3-9 mid-major (who's defense was ranked 126th by ESPN's SP+ Rankings) makes us a better team.
6'3", 225 lbs, brings good size and ideal frame for an ACC linebacker. His Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades were solid: 69.4 overall, 73.6 in run defense, and 81.8 in tackling. These metrics indicate reliability in stopping the run and securing tackles, traits we sorely needed last year...interesting thing was he was a WR/DB in high school, played somewhere at 190-210 lb weight. Screams late bloomer to me.
Bass will most likely be a no-go this season (still recovering from injury, heard he lost a bunch of weight). Santiago projects as a 1 year Bass replacement as a depth piece (thinking at STAR) and potential special teams ace?
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