BOULDER – Mekhi Blackmon, a cornerback from the College of San Mateo in California, signed a financial aid agreement with Colorado on Monday, head coach Mike MacIntyre announced.
Blackmon, a 6-0, 160-pounder originally from East Palo Alto, Calif. and Menlo-Atherton High School, will join the team in late July and be with the Buffs for fall camp in August. He will enroll at CU with four years to play three in eligibility, MacIntyre said.
"Mekhi is a long, athletic corner that can play press coverage and do all the things that we look for in our cornerbacks here at Colorado," MacIntyre said. "We are really excited about getting him here for this fall and helping our team."
He is the last player to sign with Colorado to be a part of its 2018 recruiting class. Coming to CU after his freshman season at the College of San Mateo, he fits into the mold of a number of junior college players who have come to Boulder with four years to play three in eligibility. Back in May, another recruit of this mold, offensive lineman Kary Kutsch, signed on with the Buffs after one year at a junior college. Four other Buffalo defensive backs currently on the roster – Dante Wigley, Kevin George, Kyle Trego and Aaron Maddox all took the same route in coming to Colorado.
"We are really excited about Mekhi, he is kind of like an Ahkello Witherspoon, Aaron Maddox, Afolabi Laguda, Dante Wigley and those guys that are what we call four for three," MacIntyre said. "He's a charismatic young man and has all the tools we are looking for in a corner."
Blackmon visited Colorado on his official visit last weekend and immediately felt comfortable with CU and Boulder.
"My visit went well, I was just wondering how the people were, how the coaches were and if everyone was genuine around me," Blackmon said. "The city of Boulder is based around the Buffalo team and I thought that was kind of cool. All the people were welcoming, even when I would see people around the city, they didn't even know I was a recruit, but they welcomed me like I was a real player.
"Just the environment I was around, everybody seemed like they wanted me to be there. I asked a few of the players if this was for show just to get me to commit or if it was real and everybody was like, 'no, what you are seeing right now is what you are going to get from these coaches.' "
Blackmon in his lone season with the Bulldogs under coach Larry Owens, helped lead CSM to its winningest record, 11-2, in its 96 seasons of football. The Bulldogs reached the state title game of the California Community College Athletic Association, falling in the final minute to Fullerton College.
He posted 20 tackles (12 solo), had one interception, one pass breakup and one fumble recovery last fall. Top games at CSM: in a 24-21 victory over American River College to put the Bulldogs in the CCCAA state title game, he posted five tackles and had one pass breakup; he intercepted a pass in a 57-6 win over Contra Costa; returned a fumble 21 yards and had two tackles in a 47-7 win over Modesto Junior College (which featured fellow CU junior college four-for-three signee Mustafa Johnson).
Blackmon helped the Bulldog defense allow just 16.8 points per game and only 308.6 yards of offense in 2017.
In high school, Blackmon played both wide receiver and cornerback. He caught 23 passes for 620 yards and nine touchdown while intercepting six passes his senior year. The San Francisco Chronicle named Blackmon to its 2016 All-Metro High School Football Team as an honorable mention pick at wide receiver in 2016.
CUBuffs.com press release
