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Basketball player Ray Blackwell succeeding on the football field

Blackwell named Super 7 Athlete of the Week
Posted at 11:06 PM, Oct 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-27 23:06:33-04

Ray Blackwell has one thing to say to his opponents.

"Don't underestimate," he said. "Just by the height, don't underestimate."

Standing at 5'9", Blackwell is one of the shorter wide receivers on the Maryvale practice field but his ability to jump and grab a ball is what stands out. 

"Up balls, I love them," Blackwell said. "Even though I'm short, I don't care if you're taller than me. I'll jump as high as I can just to attempt to catch the ball."

Blackwell is normally a basketball player but as his high school days grow shorter, he wanted to do something else.

"It's your senior year," he said. "You wanna go out with a bang."

Which is why he chose to play football and in just a few short months, has become a reliable target for his quarterback.

"He's always open," said quarterback Connor Desiderio. "Even if he's triple-covered, you can still throw it up to him and 75% of the time, he's gonna catch the ball."

In the Flyers' first playoff game last week, Blackwell had what his coach called the game of his life.

He caught six passes for 129 yards and scored two touchdowns. On defense, he made 12 tackles and recorded an interception.

When you're playing that much, you could have some worries about a bad injury.

Blackwell doesn't think that way.

"The thought crossed my mind but you know it's senior year," said Blackwell. "You just wanna do as much as you can. It's just I had to do it, I had to."