Barrington running back Mike Read's explosive football style reminds high school fans of Will Blackmon, former Hendricken star and current Green Bay Packer.
The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez
In the fall of 2001, Will Blackmon ran for 1,500 yards and scored 22 touchdowns in his senior year as a member of the Hendricken High football team.
In the fall of 2008, junior Mike Read ran for 1,300 yards and scored 21 touchdowns for the Barrington High football team.
In the spring of 2002, Blackmon won the 100-meter dash at the state high school track championships as he covered the distance in 10.87 seconds.
This past spring, Read won the 100-meters at the state track meet in a time of 10.82.
This fall, Blackmon will be playing in the National Football League
This fall, Read will be playing in the R.I. Interscholastic Football League.
Welcome to Rhode Island high school football's version of Back to the Future.
Has anybody ever mentioned the similarities between you and Will Blackmon? Read was asked.
"No, no one has ever said that," said the Barrington senior with a look of surprise that his name would be used in the same sentence with Blackmon, the former Hendricken star and current Green Bay Packer, who was one of the top punt returnees in the NFL last season.
But if you have been watching Rhode Island high school football for the past decade, you can't help but think of Blackmon when you see Read running across the state's high school football fields these days.
It's more than just similar high school resumes of touchdowns scored and state track titles won. More than the fact they held/hold the distinction of being the fastest schoolboy in Rhode Island by virtue of their 100-meter track crowns.
It's the replay by Read of the explosive football style Blackmon used to thrill the fans that makes your mind wonder back to early part of this decade when Blackmon was roaming the state's football fields.
It didn't matter whether Blackmon was running out of the backfield or returning a punt or kickoff. One second it looked like he was about to be tackled, the next second — actually split-second — he turned the corner or made a cut and was breaking away from everybody.
Read demonstrated that type of explosiveness last season while leading Barrington to a berth in the Division I Super Bowl. One minute he was breaking past runners at the line of scrimmage and a few series later he would be breaking loose on a long punt return. His 1,300 yards rushing last season gave him a combined total of 2,500 yards in his first two years of varsity football.
"We weren't playing in Division I when Blackmon was at Hendricken, so I didn't see him play, but Mike is one of the fastest I have ever seen," said Bill McCagney, the veteran Barrington head coach who has been coaching in Rhode Island high school football for almost 30 years.
"It isn't that he's just fast. He also very strong," McCagney added.
It isn't just his own coach Read has impressed.
"He's one of the fastest, straight-ahead runners I have ever seen," said veteran East Providence coach Sandy Gorham. "He's also a real hard-working kid. The day before we were started two-a-day (practices) in the summer, I drove by Barrington high school and there he was out on the football field, by himself, running grids."
Read's vital stats read 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds, which makes him about 4 inches shorter and 10 pounds heavier than Blackmon was during his playing days at Hendricken before he went to Boston College, then to the Packers.
Maybe because his height doesn't conform to the stereotype physical standards major college-football programs use in their recruiting strategy these days, Read hasn't been hearing from the national football powers such as Blackmon was during his days at Hendricken.
But the lack of attention from the "big guys" isn't bothering Read.
"I think, if I put my mind to it, I could play at(Division I), but I would rather play at Division II or III. I think I would feel more comfortable and I could get playing time," said Read, who has been timed in 4.3 seconds for 40 yards.
So rather than spend this past summer at high-powered camps trying to sell himself to bigtime football programs, he visited some campuses and talked to some coaches where SAT scores and grade-point average are as important as rushing yardage and touchdown totals.
"I visited Middlebury College and a few others schools, all around New England," Read said. "My parents have always told me education is No. 1."
So while his phone number may not be on the speed dial of coaches from USC or Boston College, he does have a pile of recruiting letters, although he can't tell you how many or where exactly they were postmarked. He figures all that will work itself out after the season is finished.
For right now, the next few months are about the final chapter of a football odyssey of a bunch of kids who started throwing a football around the back yards of their Barrington neighborhood when they were in kindergarten and put on their first football uniform shortly after they started elementary.
"I'm started playing Pop Warner when I was in the third grade and I have been playing ever since," said Read. "I have been playing with some of these guys for 10 years. We all started together and now we're finishing together. It's a little sad thinking this is probably the last time we will be playing together."
All of which makes every weekend this fall an occasion, especially Friday nights when they're playing football in Barrington.
"It's awesome representing your town and helping them win," Read said. "Everybody is proud of you and happy. I love it. It's a great feeling."
He knows this fall has the potential to be something special in Barrington. The talk around the state is that the Eagles are the team to beat for the Division I state title this season. It's a team of speed built around Read and his cousin/backfield mate Marc DeSisto. Like Read, DeSisto was a first-team All-Stater last season as he used his speed to run 320 yards on punt and kickoff returns, including two long touchdown dashes.
"I think we can be good. We have a lot of fast guys," Read said.
"That's what I love about football. How everybody comes together. It's a team sport where everybody has to do their share. It's not one person doing it all."
Even if one of those people is the fastest schoolboy in the state.
