Menlo Atherton's Troy Franklin commits to Oregon football

“There’s an eighth-grade all-star game, Pop Warner,” said Ravipati, who coached Franklin his freshman and sophomore seasons and has remained close with Franklin since stepping down as M-A’s head coach following the team’s 2018 state championship title.

“I saw him run two routes and thought he could play varsity football right now,” Ravipati continued. “I had (college) coaches come up to me and tell me, ‘Tell [Franklin] he has a scholarship waiting’ during his freshman year.”

A hot recruit from the moment he stepped on the M-A campus, the 6-2, 175-pound Franklin, who was courted by some of the biggest programs in the country, orally committed to University of Oregon, making the announcement on social media last Friday. He won’t sign a national-letter-of-intent until December.

Franklin held scholarship offers from 24 schools, including 10 of the teams in the Pac-12. He also held offers from Alabama, Auburn and LSU. A couple weeks ago, Franklin narrowed his choices to four schools: Alabama, Louisiana State University, Oregon and Washington.

Having dealt with college recruiters since his freshman year, Franklin said he’s glad the decision has been made and he can turn his attention elsewhere.

“Definitely a big relief. Now I can focus on school and working out and just putting my time into other things,” Franklin said. “Oregon has always been my dream school. … They’re on to something. The program is really good. … I liked the family environment.”

College scouting services have ranked Franklin as one of the top recruits in the state and a top-30, five-star recruit in the country.

Despite Franklin’s trajectory, Ravipati said there was question whether the freshman phenom would play varsity ball his first season of high school. Ravipati worried that the receiver might not be ready, mentally, to play against players three and four years older.

Ravipati said Franklin’s mother allayed any fears her son could handle it.

“Troy really wanted [to play varsity his freshman season],” Ravipati said. “His mom said he’s always played up (an age level) and [the family] had no issues with it.”

Franklin made the move pay off almost immediately. Ravipati said Franklin was in summer camp for only three days before he took him to a 7-on-7 passing tournament.

“He was absolutely destroying varsity kids,” Ravipati said. “There were times I was teaching him routes in the huddle. He was so coachable.”

Franklin proved that debut was no fluke as in his first varsity game, a 21-16 loss to Bellarmine, he caught five balls for 105 yards. He got his first college scholarship offer after three games. Now after three seasons, Franklin has 102 catches for 1,790 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Those are just his receiving numbers. He has also rushed for 238 yards with two more scores and has added 524 return yards (kickoffs, punts and interceptions) with two more touchdowns.

But with the coronavirus still gripping the world, there is still a possibility of an altered fall football season, with a number of different scenarios possible — including moving the season to the spring or not playing at all.

“That would be disappointing,” Franklin said. “Every high school athlete would have a lot of time on their hands. We just have to be very disciplined.”

Which is precisely what Franklin plans on doing. He said part of the reason to announce his college decision so early — most high school recruits don’t reveal their choice until the fall — was so that he could focus on graduating high school and enrolling at Oregon early. He plans to take classes during the summer so he is in line to graduate in December, enroll at Oregon for the spring semester, participate in spring practice and be ready to start for the Ducks at the beginning of the 2021 season.

“[The early commitment] was for him to be able to focus on doing the things to get ready for college. … He’s a really good student. He’s over a 3.0 (grade point average). I don’t worry about his academics,” Ravipati said. “I’m really proud of him. He’s grown up a ton. I’m proud of the kind of person, kind of leader he’s become.”