2022 OL lands Vol offer
Recruiting activity has obviously slowed down this spring for Tennessee and everyone else across the college football world but it certainly hasn’t stopped. The Vols sent out a new offer this week to Virginia offensive lineman Gunner Givens, a member of the 2022 class.
Givens (6-foot-6, 275 pounds), from Lord Botencourt HS just outside of Roanoke, is already seeing offers pile up well before his junior season even gets underway.
The current NCAA recruiting restrictions have meant that Givens can’t hit the road and visit any of his many suitors, but he hopes that will change over the coming months.
“I talked to Tennessee on Monday and they let me know that they were offering me,” Givens said. “I don’t know a whole lot about them right now, just that they’re a big time program in the SEC. They’re definitely one of the schools that I’ll visit when things open back up.”
The Vols join a group of programs like Penn State, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Virginia and Miami who have already offered Givens based of his play as a high school sophomore. He’s also getting interest from Ohio Sate and Clemson and has made an unofficial visit to Clemson.
What they see is a prospect who moves incredibly well for his size and could project at a number of positions at the next level. His size might suggest that he’s a future offensive tackle, which is what Tennessee is recruiting him as, but don’t pencil him in there just yet.
“I play tight end right now and also defensive end,” he said. “Different schools are telling me that they see me as different things. Some are recruiting me as an offensive tackle, some as a defensive lineman.
“It doesn’t really matter to me I just want to play at a high level for a winning program.”
Givens is obviously going to get that chance based off all of the serious early interest he’s already receiving. In fact, the kind of pace his recruitment has hit at this stage caught him off guard.
“I honestly didn’t expect it,” he said. “My high school coach (Jamie Harliss) told me it was going to happen and that it would be this way but I didn’t really believe it.
“But once people started seeing my sophomore film it all started to happen. After Miami offered me (three weeks ago) it really started to pick up steam and it’s been crazy.”
While it’s extremely early in the process for Givens he knows what he’s looking for in a future landing spot.
“Mostly I’m just looking for a place where I feel at home, where I trust the coaches and where I find a place that feels like a family,” he said.
“I don’t have any favorites yet, but hopefully I can start taking some visits this summer and start to learn more about the different schools.”