High school football returned to South Florida on Friday, and Miami running back commit Thad Franklin picked up right where he left off last season.
He accounted for 87.7 percent of Chaminade-Madonna’s yards on offense, recording 164 yards and all four touchdowns on 28 carries in a 27-14 win over Champagnat Catholic, the reigning Class 2A state champions.
The 6-foot-1, 217-pounder was relentless all night, as he fought through contact and repeatedly dragged his defenders for extra yards. And while he may be one to fill up the stat sheet, that’s not on his mind.
“I don’t really care [about stats], I just want to win,” he said.
One thing is certain, Franklin loves to deliver contact.
“I like punishing people,” he said. “I like hitting people.”
Franklin comes off a junior campaign in which he rushed for 2,228 yards and 28 touchdowns en route to the Class 3A state title. In the title game, his 337 rushing yards broke Travis Henry’s 24-year old state championship game record.
The MaxPreps Preseason All-American has his eyes set on winning his fourth state title in four years, which would make Chaminade-Madonna the first team in Broward County history to do so.
During the offseason, he lost 18 pounds in just two weeks and now weighs in at 217-pounds. He looks to maintain that weight as he heads to Coral Gables next summer.
Franklin is still in contact with Florida State and Rutgers, but he reassured that he’s locked into his commitment with the Hurricanes. And a large part of that is due to the pandemic.
“It kind of played a role knowing that we can’t go visit other schools, so I decided just to stick with Miami,” he stated.
