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Givens' decision to come Monday
By LANCE CRANMER
Gazette Sports Writer
<!-- ARTICLE BODYTEXT --> <!--ARTICLE TEXT--> The rumor mill has been spinning out of control lately about Chillicothe's Chris Givens.
Will the highly touted receiver set to begin his senior year with the Cavaliers wear scarlet and gray in 2007?
Probably not.
Then will it be Cincinnati, West Virginia, Purdue, Northwestern, Pitt, Ohio, Miami, Akron ... ? The list goes on for days of schools interested in the ultra-athletic 6-foot-3, 200-pounder.Only he has the answers, though. And soon enough, the rest of the world will finally know as well.
"I'm going to make my decision Monday," Givens said Friday evening. "It's going to be a public announcement."
The recruiting process for Givens began January 2 when he got his first scholarship offer from Miami (Ohio) - where his older brother is currently a student (which could factor in the decision).
After that, the calls, letters, visits and even text messages have been on a non-stop basis, trying to land the athlete ranked by one Ohio scouting Web site as the 13th best overall player in the state.
"I think people started catching notice when I went to two combines," Givens said. "I went to a combine in Columbus for
Rivals.comand I did really well up there. I ran the 40 and caught a couple of nice passes. Then I got the MVP at one of the top combines in the nation,
Scout.com, in Louisville. That's when I started getting phone calls and 20 to 30 letters in the mail."
Since then, Givens has been caught in the whirlwind of attention from college suitors attempting to land him on their respective campuses at this time next year.
"I really like the attention and the publicity," he said. "But I'm keeping a mellow head about it."
Givens has spent the last few months working hard for the upcoming season - which begins August 25 when Chillicothe travels to Columbus Brookhaven - alongside cousin and former Chillicothe High School standout, Brad Bates.
"He's been there a lot working out with me and helping me with my recruiting," Givens said. "He's been such a big mentor to me."
Bates, who holds several receiving records for the Cavaliers, went on to play at Marshall University.
Givens said he has two major goals for this season - and one of them just happens to involve his cousin.
"First thing is a winning season for Chillicothe. That's what I want to do for our teammates," he said. "Second is to beat my cousin's receiving and touchdowns records. It's time to make a new era in the record list for Chillicothe."
By signing with a college early, Givens expects that it will take some of the pressure off of him during his senior year and make it a little easier to enjoy.
"Some people are scared about their senior year. It's not really scary to me. I'm excited about it," he said. "Me, I'm kind of glad. I'm ready to play college ball and have fun in college."
But what college? That is kind of the big question, isn't it?
"Yeah, I'll give
