Reigning Class 6A football champion West Linn will get a boost next season with the addition of running back Ahmir McGee from Franklin.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound McGee was a Portland Interscholastic League first-team pick as a junior last season, when he rushed for 1,329 yards and 16 touchdowns, caught 22 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns and had more than 2,000 all-purpose yards.
McGee said his family moved to West Linn this month and he is attending classes at the high school.
“We’ve been looking for a different house, and we just decided to relocate out there,” he said. “Football was part of it. … They didn’t know I was coming until we moved.
“I feel like at Franklin, I wasn’t improving during the season. I feel like here I’m going to improve during the season, learn way more, just playing with a group of guys who just want to win. And also, at the end of the day, get another state championship.”
McGee said he met with West Linn coach Chris Miller after the family moved.
“We talked a lot,” McGee said. “He said I’m going to be a good fit, mostly an every-down back. I’m going to play running back and safety. He said I’m going to help the team a lot.”
McGee said he is friends with several West Linn players, including junior receiver Qawi Ntsasa, junior linebacker Zack Huffstutter and junior tight end Keishon Dawkins.
It will help ease the transition from leaving Franklin, where he helped lead the Quakers to a 5-5 record last season. Franklin also is losing quarterback Marcus Cunningham, who has transferred to Madison after passing for 21 touchdowns as a junior last season.
“It was really hard, especially because next year Franklin is opening a new school, so I didn’t really want to leave,” McGee said. “I was just going to still go to Franklin, but I just thought about starting fresh again, and just go somewhere that’s going to prepare me for college.”
McGee will be part of a potentially explosive offense that includes Ntsasa, Dawkins, sophomore running backs Dawson Jolley and junior running back Tyler Good.
“The offense is going to be great,” he said. “There are so many different weapons.
“The past years at Franklin, I just saw myself like, I have to be the guy, just because we weren’t really that good. And it was kind of hard there, winning games at Franklin, because we didn’t have the talent. But now I just kind of look at myself as a player that can help the team out in whatever way they need me, and try to win a state championship, like they did last year. So whatever they need me to do, I’m willing to do.”
McGee said he is receiving college interest from Oregon State, Washington, Montana State, Utah State and Fresno State, among others.
McGee played basketball at Franklin but said he does not plan to play at West Linn. His father, Jeffrey, resigned as Franklin's boys basketball coach after the season.
-- Jerry Ulmer
julmer@oregonian.com
503-816-7323
@jerryulmer