[beast10]

(Part 1 - High School)
Chapter 9 - The Decision
November 2015
Chris Makes College Announcement

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Chris Graham stands over the 1,000 students of Calhoun High School as he grabs the microphone at the front podium inside the school’s gym. He’s minutes away from announcing his college decision to not only his classmates and teachers, but also the local media teams and Port Lavaca townies that had packed themselves in the gymnasium.

From the Birdseye point of view, this event is ridiculous. Students were pulled from their classes to see the college announcement of a one-star football recruit who plays on a team that finished the season 2-8. While this is very well true, it isn’t for the city of Port Lavaca. Why?

Because they’re preparing to send Chris Graham off as the only active NCAA FBS player from the Port – there hasn’t been a Chris Graham in over eight years so this decision isn’t a joke.

His options comes out as limited. There aren’t many teams that’ve made the podium and this doesn’t come because Chris shortened his list. His final two weeks of high school football went well, especially against George Ranch where he was put in charge of covering Oklahoma bound wide receiver Corey Holycross who had the service of one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Texas, Joe Lane who’s still debating on offers from in-state notables; Texas A&M, TCU, and Baylor.

Graham finished with five tackles, two pass deflections, and a 28 yard pick six touchdown return – his second of the season. It was a good stat line coming on his senior night but it came with a bad result as Calhoun lost 63-14. A week before the game they were up against Angleton who delivered a 38-0 shutout. Chris had eight tackles.

His individual performances attracted minor attention from Arizona State, Utah, and Missouri. He pursued these recruiters but after the first letters, the feeling wasn’t quite as mutual. There was only one college that really stuck with him up until now and that was probably the school he'd be committing to this afternoon.

“… it’s been an up and down year,” Graham says, “lots of adversity, lots of things that have happened unexpected… There’s a lot of people I’d like to thank but mainly my mom, Coach Pendleton, Tyreke [Nalls], Adrian [me], and all y’all who came out and supported us despite our struggles this season. Y’all all motivated me and the entire football team to keep moving even when things looked bad. I remember how we’d preach in the locker room last summer about how we were gonna win the state championship… that obviously didn’t happen but what did happen is we really became a family

That’s what’s really important. That’s what Coach Pendleton always says. We bonded and I see my teammates as my brothers now. We were young so a lot of them looked up to me and the other upperclassmen and that was really a motivation… I remember how my man Josh [Longley] said he wanted to be like me.” Chris laughs. “Point is – even though it wasn’t how I wanted things to go – I had fun playing with Calhoun, both this year, the year before and beyond. It’s been an experience I’ll never forget. #2676!” He pumps his fist with a smile.

Students began chanting “underrated” and a particular student can be overheard by all as he yells that TCU should’ve recruited Chris.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Chris says, addressing the student. “But that wasn’t the case. So I worked with what I got. After taking things step-by-step, a lot of stuff has came up, I’ve decided that I’ll be continuing my football career at the University of Colorado.”

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“They said there was a possible scholarship on the table,” Chris says, recapping his decision the next day. “I’m like, Colorado? Hell yeah. That’s the Pac-12 and I’ve told you since day one that I wanted to play in a big conference. Well here it is.”

Chris’s verbal commitment was received over to the staff at Colorado. Assistant recruiter Thomas Reid gave him a phone call a few hours later welcoming and congratulating him on his decision of joining their program. Chris says he’s chasing his dreams.

“It was tough to make this decision because Colorado is a real long way from here. Main thing was I didn't want to leave my mom here… but then again I wasn’t really given a choice. She told me to go chase my dreams and she wouldn't take no as no answer… Going to play over at Colorado is where I can do that. It ain’t too often Colorado shows any interest to a one-star player. They see the potential in me so I’m down for the ride.”

A one-star prospect however isn’t too good on paper when the Colorado Buffaloes have a recruiting board loaded with the majority of three and four star recruits. The fact that they’d pursued Chris Graham itself is a surprise but it clearly shows that they do indeed see something special in him.