By BRENDAN McGAIR

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET – A cornerback/kickoff specialist with a time of 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash. These are just some of the traits that have helped transform this former St. Raphael standout into the envy of numerous colleges.
It also appears Stanley Dunbar extrapolated everything he possibly could in his stint with Dean College, located in nearby Franklin, Mass. and coached by former St. Raphael mentor Todd Vasey. Straddling the sidelines at Pariseau Field last Friday, Dunbar spoke freely about how far his grid exploits have come and what the future holds.
“I feel Dean really prepared me for the next level and helped me improve my game,” Dunbar was saying while watching SRA take on East Providence. “The coaches really worked with me to get smarter and know the game more.”
“He has started every game at corner for us since he’s been here, which is 16 games,” noted Vasey, whose son Trevor quarterbacks the Saints. “Week-in and week-out he gets to play against some tremendous Division I receivers and stands up to the challenge.”
Dunbar lists Syracuse, Rutgers and Florida Atlantic as the high profile schools whose curiosity he’s peaked. Mostly the 5-foot-9 Dunbar has been targeted by schools residing in the Colonial Athletic Association (Rhode Island, Northeastern, Massachusetts and Maine).
“They want to see how he progresses in his sophomore year,” said Vasey.
Dunbar knew the game plan had to change when he was lightly recruited coming out of high school.  No one doubted he was a vital cog in the Saints’ march to an unprecedented state title two autumns ago, when Dunbar served as a dual threat of quarterback/running back. The questions mainly centered around his diminutive stature and whether he could withstand punishment on a weekly basis.
Dunbar took getting slighted in stride, realizing his grand plans would only be temporarily placed on hold. All pending concerns would eventually become revisited, hopefully, in Dunbar’s eyes, after he had checked off the goals he laid out prior to enrolling at a junior college.
See a dramatic spike in his stock? Check. See a similar development with his grade point average? Double check.  “He’s made the most of his opportunity [at Dean],” said Vasey. “His GPA will open a lot of doors for him.”
Football recruiting is the polar opposite of basketball, where coaches can flock to gyms during the off-season in order to catch a glimpse. The importance of self-recruiting is often stressed in football, where seasons of varying classifications go on simultaneously, thus leaving little wiggle room for coaches to hop on a plane.
Vasey, knowing the recruiting nuances he does, tells his players to package together a highlight video that is shipped to schools where the coach best believes they’ll garner replies back. Dunbar’s reel includes footage of him pitted against 6-foot-4 wideouts and how he’s been able to hold his own despite surrendering close to five inches.
“Schools will come by on their bye week and meet with our guys, but they can’t come to our practices because they’re busy in their own right,” explained Vasey.
Asked to assess Dunbar’s cornerback style, Vasey clarified “he’d just as soon play you man-to-man, but he’s just as good in zone. He likes to get up and be aggressive.”
Dunbar believes he’ll come to a decision when the junior college signing period opens in mid-December. “I’ll be graduating early because I took summer classes,” he said.
Dunbar isn’t the only local registering an impact at Dean, currently 5-0 and ranked eighth nationally according to the latest NJCAA poll. Shea High products Matt Bryson and Curtis McBride, both members of the school’s Division II championship in 2006, have also made their presence felt. Bryson was nominated Northeast Conference’s special teams player of the week after a lengthy punt return against the Holy Cross junior varsity this past weekend. McBride earned defensive player of the week kudos after racking up two interceptions against Hudson Valley CC on Sept. 26.
“It’s exciting as a former Rhode Island high school coach to see guys from Rhode Island playing for me,” said Vasey, who boasts four players – three of whom start defensively –with Ocean State ties, by far the most ever in the program’s history. “Those guys are a big reason why we are currently where we are.”