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C-M’s McMahon finds right fit with Navy

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Canon-McMillan’s Connor McMahon wasn’t going to waste time during his senior year shopping for potential suitors on the recruiting trail.

McMahon knew what he wanted, found it in Annapolis, Md., and headed for the checkout line.

A tight end and defensive lineman as a junior last season for the Big Macs’ football team, McMahon recently committed to play at the Naval Academy. The Midshipmen extended an offer to him over Memorial Day weekend.

Navy recruited McMahon as an offensive lineman. He will be switching from tight end to offensive tackle this coming season at Canon-McMillan. As a junior, McMahon had 15 pass receptions but his strength was his blocking.

“Navy recruited me as an offensive tackle. I feel like I’m the same size as their offensive linemen,” said McMahon, who played at 225 pounds last fall but has since bulked up to 250 on a 6-3 frame.

“We were trying to figure out what to do with him,” Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans said. “There are two types of tight ends: One is the blocking tight end who catches short passes in the flat and on crossing routes, and the other is the guy who is not as skilled at blocking but can run the seams and stretch the defense. Connor is more of the former. He’s more of an offensive lineman.

“All of the service academies were recruiting him as an offensive lineman. They take a lot of tight ends and convert them to tackles. Connor is a kid who could grow to 275 pounds.”

Air Force was the first academy to offer McMahon and Army had been in contact.

McMahon said he received offers from FCS-level schools including Holy Cross, Fordham and Bryant, along with four Ivy League schools: Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Columbia and Brown.

He said the offer to attend the Naval Academy was too good to pass up.

“It definitely looks that way. I see it as this could set me up for life. Plus,” McMahon said, “it’s good football.”

Navy, under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, is coming off an 11-2 season and defeated Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl. More importantly, Navy won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and snapped a three-game losing streak to Army.

“My grandfather was a Marine and my family was all over it when the academies started recruiting me,” McMahon said. “They thought it was something I couldn’t pass up.”

McMahon has a 4.25 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and said he’s interested in majoring in quantitative economics.

McMahon comes from a family of athletes. His father, Eric, played football at Kent State and currently coaches Canon-McMillan’s middle school team. His mother, Jennifer, was a softball player at Youngstown State.

McMahon credited his mother for her help in using social media to contact numerous schools and suppling college coaches information about him. He was recruited by Navy wide receivers coach Mick Yokitis but McMahon said nothing about the recruiting process was normal because of the coronavirus pandemic. There was no official visit to campus, but rather a virtual tour of the campus, which sold McMahon on Annapolis.

Evans said that because Navy runs a triple-option offense, it plays to McMahon’s strength.

“He started a few games for us as a freshman and was an outstanding blocker right out of the gate, even at 195 pounds,” Evans said. “He always had a really good work ethic. He’s a coach’s dream.”

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