ORONO – Kevin McMahan easily could have wound up like many of his childhood friends who grew up in their Rochester, N.Y., neighborhood.

He might have dropped out of school and gotten mixed up in drugs and crime. He could have wound up in jail, or dead.

His mother, Margaret Izzard, refused to let that happen.

Instead, McMahan is playing football and studying accounting at the University of Maine. The senior wide receiver is striving to take full advantage of the opportunity.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder is the leading receiver for the 1-2 Black Bears, who are preparing for Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against Albany in Portland.

“I look at myself athletically and I think the sky’s the limit of what I can do on the field, but I feel like the last three years I’ve really underachieved,” said McMahan, who was slowed by injuries last season.

He has been a key performer for the Bears. McMahan ranks 11th on UMaine’s career receiving yardage list with 1,399.

This season, McMahan already has made a team-best 18 receptions good for 297 yards (99 yards per game) and three touchdowns. He has 15 career TD catches.

“I think Kevin’s got the necessary ingredients of speed and hands and he works hard at route-running. He kind of has a blend of everything,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove. “He’s certainly been very productive for us.”

Izzard pulled McMahan out of public school and sent him to Catholic school in second grade. It proved a life-altering decision.

“Where we grew up was a really bad neighborhood in the city,” said McMahan, who is African American. “The city school district’s terrible where I’m at, so she made the decision she was going to get me into Catholic school. I didn’t want to do it.”

The nurturing environment made a profound impact on McMahan, who then attended Aquinas Institute, a Catholic high school in Rochester.

“It was like night and day,” McMahan said. “The school I went to was predominantly white and my neighborhood was predominately black, but they’re all great people.”

McMahan was able to attend Aquinas because his mother sacrificed to pay his way.

“She couldn’t afford it at all, but she gave every dime she had to pay the bill,” he said.

Izzard kept a close watch over her son. At one point, she forbid him from hanging out with his best friend from the neighborhood. McMahan was devastated, but obliged.

A year later, that friend was arrested for murder.

“I look back at that and I’m like, man, that could have been me right there with him. She definitely made some good choices for me.

“Honestly, I don’t think I have a friend that grew up in my neighborhood that’s not either dead or in jail right now, not one,” McMahan said solemnly.

Basketball was McMahan’s first love, but a friend convinced him to try out for football his junior year. Despite not having ever played football, he earned all-state honors as a senior and helped Aquinas win a state championship.

“I said, I’m a dime a dozen as a 6-3 guard in basketball,” said the all-state player. “As a 6-3 wide receiver in football that’s pretty fast, I probably do have a better opportunity in football.”

McMahan credited Aquinas basketball coach Mike Dianetti with helping motivate him to study harder and consider playing college football. He also praised the efforts of the late Jeff Cole, the UMaine coach who helped recruit him away from Division I-A Buffalo.

“He’s been around some real good role models and mentors and people that definitely steered Kevin in the right direction,” said Cosgrove, who pointed to McMahan’s mother and his grandmother, Ruby Chandler, as being the biggest influences.

UMaine has been another supportive environment for McMahan, who enjoys the family atmosphere on the football team and the dedication of the coaching staff.

“[Pass game coordinator Kevin Bourgoin] does nothing but demand perfection of me, so I love that,” McMahan said. “He’s really been pushing me to be the best [I can be].”

McMahan, the first person in his family to attend college, is working on a business degree. He hopes to open an accounting firm with a friend from home and eventually move his beloved mother and grandmother back to their native South Carolina.