Max all packed for Pac-12

If the past six months were a movie, Pomona running back Max Borghi couldn’t have scripted it better himself.

He led Pomona to the Class 5A state championship. He won The Denver Post’s Gold Helmet Award. He played so well down the stretch of the 2017 season after coming back from major knee surgery that Stanford, his dream school, made a scholarship offer.

Such a screenplay likely would have ended with Borghi flipping his commitment from Washington State to Stanford. It would have had the player widely compared to Christian McCaffrey signing with Stanford on Dec. 20, the first day of college football’s early signing period.

But Borghi — citing a combination of the three primary factors in his decision — in- stead sent his national letter of intent to Washington State on Dec. 22, the final day of the early signing period.

Borghi wanted an opportunity to play quickly, which the Cougars said he would get with them. He wanted to carve his own legacy, even if that meant turning down a Stanford education. And he felt loyal to Jim Mastro, the Washington State running backs coach who recruited him.

“He’s been a Max Borghi fan since Day One,” Borghi said of Mastro. “There’s all these schools that came in late, but pretty much it comes down to, where were they a long time ago? (Mastro) recruited me with a torn ACL, and he knew I was committed to CU then but he continually told me how much they wanted me. The relationship has built since then.”

As for the naysayers who argue that Washington State’s “air raid” offense is a bad fit for a running back, Borghi disagrees.

“What they do with the running backs in the air raid at Washington State is a little bit different than a typical college,” Borghi said. “You catch a lot of passes — and a lot of people might not say that’s a traditional running back — but looking at the NFL, a lot of the backs are really involved in the pass game. That offense will fit me well, and show all the skills I have — not just rushing between the tackles.”

Borghi was presented with the Gold Helmet Award at the Broncos-Chiefs game in Denver on Sunday. He has graduated from Pomona and heads to Washington State to enroll Thursday.