After leading his region in interceptions, punt return yards and kick return yards as a senior, Buffs commit Ronnie Blackmon racked up a number of post-season honors.
“I feel like I tackled better as a senior and just made more plays overall,” said Blackmon, who hails from Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake. “As a team we won 10 games, so overall it was a pretty good last [season] of high school football.”
Blackmon accepted an invitation to play in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl, which was shown on ESPN last week. In front of a national television audience, Blackmon showed why he is ranked among the top 75 prospects from the talent rich Peach State this cycle.
“I just wanted to go out there and make plays,” Blackmon said of his standout performance in the all-star game. “We had practices leading up to the game, too, and it was a great experience just competing against the top receivers in one-on-ones every day. I thought I matched up well against them.
“I broke up most of the passes in practice, and in the game, I had two picks. The first one I just made a great play on the ball and on the second one, I was reading the quarterback, his drops, and I just broke on the ball at the right time.”
Blackmon picked Colorado in July over offers from 16 other programs, including Arizona, Boston College, Colorado State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Louisville, Syracuse, Wake Forest and West Virginia. He already had his in-home visit with Buffs head coach Mike MacIntyre and he took his official visit to Colorado the weekend of Dec. 11.
“I am still solid, I am not changing,” Blackmon said of his commitment to the Buffaloes. “The coaches – [cornerbacks] coach Charles Clark and Coach MacIntyre – have been the same the whole time. I felt it was important for me to be able to trust my future coaches, and I know that I can trust them.
“They both check up on me to see how I am doing often and they've been very consistent with me. I was really impressed with the facilities on my official visit. The facilities came together real well. They say they see me starting in the return game when I get there and I'll compete at cornerback.”
Between his returns and situational play on offense, Blackmon racked up 1,029 all-purpose yards on 60 touches as a senior. He recorded seven interceptions and 45 tackles defensively, according to MaxPreps.
“I feel like I will add some explosiveness to Colorado's team and I hope to prove myself as a lockdown corner,” Blackmon said.
