M-A grads earn Pac-12 honors

Oregon sophomore Troy Franklin earned second-team Pac-12 honors as a wide receiver. Cal freshman Jeremiah Earby garnered honorable mention as a cornerback.

“I just think they’ve just had such a great foundation,” said Adhir Ravipati, current Riordan head coach who previously ran the program at M-A, and coached each Blackmon and Franklin. “And one of the things we always prided ourselves as a football program is we were going to treat it like a college program.”

Last month, when the Mountain West Conference announced its 2022 honors, former M-A running back Jordan Mims, a senior at Fresno State, earned first-team All-MWC honors, leading the conference with 16 rushing touchdowns and ranking fourth with 1,161 rushing yards.

Blackmon and Mims are both draft eligible this year. The NFL Draft will be held April 28-30.

At 6-foot, 175-pounds, Blackmon is far from a surefire draft commodity. There are 259 total picks in the NFL Draft. Blackmon is currently ranked the No. 593 overall draft eligible college players by NFLDraftBuzz.com.

“You guys have been saying that since he’s in high school and he keeps proving you wrong,” Ravipati said.

In contrast, Blackmon and Franklin could not have navigated more different paths since graduating from M-A.

Franklin was on his way to one of the truly legendary careers in M-A history when the 2020 graduate opted to forgo his senior season in order to submit for early-enrollment at University of Oregon. Through three seasons with the Bears, he established himself as a four-star recruit, totaling over 500 receiving yards for three straight seasons and finishing with 1,790 receiving yards and 28 touchdown catches.

The well-traveled Blackmon has taken a more circuitous route. A 2017 graduate from M-A, he played at Colorado State from 2018-21 and earned an All-Pac-12 honorable mention in 2021. Before that, he played at College of San Mateo in 2017, and played under Larry Owens in the CSM Hall of Famer’s last official season as head coach.

This season was his best yet, as Blackmon ranked second on the team with three interceptions and first with 11 breakups.

“Mekhi is a great example,” Ravipati said. “Mekhi was maybe 6-foot, closer to 5-11 as a senior, he probably made weight at 145 pounds. But a kid that was really resilient and a kid that was just really tough.”

Franklin has flourished in Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham’s innovative pro-style power spread offense. The 6-3, 178-pound sophomore finished eighth in Pac-12 with 867 receiving yards and tied for the conference lead with eight touchdown catches this season.

“In that system, Troy really blossomed this year,” Ravipati said. “And I think for Troy, the sky is the limit.”

That was apparent since Franklin first laced up his cleats at M-A. In his varsity debut as freshman, he had a Week 1 impact in the Bears’ 21-16 loss to Bellarmine, totaling five catches for 105 yards.

“You want to talk about a star being born, it’s like: ‘This kid is going to be one of the best players in CCS history if he does what he’s supposed to do,’” Ravipati said. “And he did.”