Bivins offer list continues to grow

Gainesville (Fla.) defensive back Chris Bivins added his 13th offer on Tuesday when the Kentucky Wildcats gave him a call.

"They had been dealing with me for a while but they just now pulled the trigger," Bivins said. "They have been recruiting me for about two months. So it felt great to finally get that offer from them."

Kentucky joins Arkansas, Florida International, Illinois, Marshall, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Navy, N.C. State, South Carolina, South Florida, Temple, and Utah in offering the 5-foot-11, 166-pound defensive back. A number of other schools are showing interest and may be on the verge of extending an offer.

"I have a good relationship with Georgia, with Coach (John) Lilly," Bivins said. "I also have a good relationship with Coach (Eric) Russell from Tennessee. I am probably going to go to one of their camps. Georgia Tech also wants me to camp with them as well. They have been involved with me for four months or so but haven't offered, so I am not sure what is up with them."

Camp visits to Tennessee and Georgia Tech won't be his only stops. Bivins is working on building a schedule of trips for the months of June and July.

"I am going to take a few trips to a few different schools this summer," Bivins said. "I am going to try to visit some that haven't offered me and some that have. I haven't really made my decision on all of the schools I am visiting yet but I know I will be making it to South Florida and I am probably going to Florida's Friday Night Lights as well as Georgia's camp on July 11th. I am still debating on the rest of them."

Another trip that Bivins will be taking is to Beaverton, Oregon to participate in Nike's 'The Opening'. The multi-day event will begin on July 5th and conclude on July 9th with dozens of the nation's top prospects participating in it.

"That is a real big honor to be able to go there and participate in that," Bivins said. "All of the top scouts are going to be there and a lot of four and five-star players are going to be there. So it is going to be good to see how I compare when it comes to those four and five-star guys. I want to see how good I can do and what I don't do as well so I can compare and realize what I need to work on. Getting that exposure and having that experience, it should be real fun. It should be really delightful, I can't wait for it."

Bivins is hoping that his journey to the West Coast and participation in the highly publicized event will lead to interest from schools in the Pac-12 and other schools from that area.

"That is what I am hoping," Bivins said of getting West Coast interest. "I am hoping some different teams like Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, and schools of that sort realize how good I am and show me more interest. Some of those schools weren't able to come to my school during the spring but this event will give them a chance to see different talent from different areas. Hopefully that opens up my recruitment to a new area, because I would love to get interest from more schools out there. I love the schools down this way, in the Southeast, showing me interest but I would also like to have options out that way, on the other side of the country."

The Sunshine State product is hoping to make his list a bit more manageable in the coming weeks by narrowing his focus some. Bivins wanted it to be clear though that he isn't shutting the door on any schools at any stage of his recruitment.

"Not right now," Bivins said when asked if he had a leader. "I will probably have a list of a top five either later this week or sometime next week. I have to do a lot of thinking this week to see what schools I really like and what schools I am looking at the most."

At this stage of his recruitment, Bivins said he isn't sure when he may decide. He said the possibility exists of him making a decision during the summer and then taking multiple official visits during the 2011 college football season.