The Franklin family has deep roots in Arizona high school football.
Aaron Franklin, the patriarch, was an all-state linebacker at Peoria High in 1990, before playing at Arizona State.
His oldest son, Gage, blocked a punt that sparked Peoria Centennial's dramatic 34-23 6A state quarterfinal comeback win at Chandler Hamilton in 2015. Centennial went on to capture the state title.
Two years later, Jacob Franklin, Aaron's second son. played a key role at defensive end in the Coyotes' state championship run that included a 12-0 upset of national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas from Florida.
This season, Luke, a senior who is the youngest son, plays for 6-0 Centennial as a defensive end.
"He's happy for me," Luke said of his father. "He's like, 'I couldn't
imagine you'd be having the season that you're having.' He's so happy. He's always been my number one supporter. I love to have him on my side."
Also among his supporters is Victoria Wise, the oldest sibling from the Franklin family, who is a swim coach at Surprise Willow Canyon High School.
Luke Franklin, 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, is hoping to get more Division I college recruiting attention as the season goes on. He has accumulated 55 tackles, 16.5 for losses, with 11 sacks, 16 quarterback hurries, two caused fumbles and a blocked punt.
He's hoping to add to that on Friday, Oct. 16, when Centennial (6-0) travels to take on Chandler (5-1). Chandler is ranked No. 2 in 6A/Open by MaxPreps, which are the rankings the Arizona Interscholastic Association uses to seed the playoffs. Centennial is ranked No. 5.
"We'll get a chance to prove it this week that we're a top team," Franklin said. "That's what we look for. We look for these games that really set us above and at the top of the state."
The game has a playoff feel, Franklin said.
"This is what you look for in games in November and December," he said. "This is that kind of game. See where we're at, prove where we're at."
Aaron Franklin is proud of all of his children and never made any of them feel they had to travel a path he took.
His sons have all been different on the football field.
"Gage would just trust his instincts more than anybody I've ever seen on a high school field on Friday night," Aaron said.
He said Jacob, now an engineer, was committed to the weight room and classroom. He was very methodical.
"He could tell you what the play was before they ran it," Aaron said. "(Luke) watched a lot of their film. Luke is a 4.0 student. He has a mixture of both (brothers). He trusts what he sees on the field and reacts quicker. But he also is very methodical in pre-snap. He has a pretty good idea where the play is going to go."
Centennial coach Andrew Taylor, who has been the defensive coordinator for each of them at the school, calls Luke the brains of the defense.
"Many times we tell some of our guys on defense, 'Ask Luke,' " Taylor said. "Or, 'Hey, if Luke is yelling screen or something like that, he probably has a good idea where it's going.' It's a good idea to listen.
"We are definitely blessed having Luke and the other Franklins we've had at Centennial."
Luke Franklin's anticipation is amazing. A lot of that comes from film study. Aaron said sometimes after a game, his son will be up until 3 in the morning waiting for that Friday's Hudl film to come in to study it. He has to tell him to go to sleep.
He's getting some college attention, he said, but some coaches want to see him at linebacker. At times, Taylor will have Luke drop back in coverage as an outside linebacker.
"I'm just trying to prove to them what I already know, that I can play Division I football," Luke Franklin said. "I can play with these dudes. I play with Division I (offensive) tackles every day (in practice)."
Ben Lowther, one of the biggest left tackles in the state at 6-foot-8, 320 pounds, has committed to Stanford. Franklin goes up against him quite a bit in practice.
"I'm the biggest film guy," Franklin said. "Offensive coordinators love their tendencies. If you can learn that, it really helps out, just knowing what the play is. It helps the other guy next to you, knowing what the play is. It creates a problem for offenses."
Luke played football with many of his teammates since he was 8 years old. He knew this team could be special.
"The family part of it, we truly are a brotherhood," Luke Franklin said. "It's defense. It's offense. We're so together. We're so bought in. We need the Open championship. It's been too long. We need it. We know we have the team to do it."
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don't miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Centennial's Luke Franklin carving own path on the football field
