Running back Giles picks Vols after trippin' visit

Giles

First-year Tennessee running backs coach Stan Drayton put the Vols in the lead for Jarvis Giles. The city of Knoxville sealed the deal.

Giles, one of the top prospects in the nation, didn’t even need to step foot in East Tennessee to realize where he needed to be. The running back from Gaither High School in Tampa, Fla., saw his future home during his inbound flight.

“Oh my God! Is that a mountain? Is that a mountain?” the 5-foot-11, 178-pound Giles exclaimed Friday, recalling his emotions when he first saw Knoxville. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I was trippin’.”

Giles flew into Knoxville on Wednesday. A day later Giles committed, an easy decision once he met the town’s citizens.

“People I don’t even know walk up to me and shake my hand and ask me how I’m doing,” Giles said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. Everybody here’s a family. I respect that.

“There’s a lot of love.”

One of those citizens Giles met was Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summit. Giles was admittedly starstruck.

“I love that lady to death,” he said. “I almost had a heart attack.”

Giles is UT’s second commitment in two days as the Vols hold their football camp this week. Offensive lineman Kevin Revis of Rhea County committed Thursday to UT.

Giles is rated as the 99th best player in the nation and 13th best tailback by Rivals.com. He also has been invited to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

UT beat out Georgia and Clemson, among many others, for Giles’ services.

“It’s a lot of relief off my shoulders,” said Giles, who ran for 1,501 yards and 20 touchdowns on 224 carries last season. “I’m pretty happy about it.”

Giles is a rare prospect. It’s not often that such a highly touted player from Florida has no interest in Florida, Florida State or Miami.

Such was the case with Giles all along. Each of Florida’s big three pursued Giles, but he said early and often that he was determined to leave the Sunshine State.

Giles is the second prospect committed to UT that is listed on Rivals Top 100 list. Receiver Je’Ron Stokes from Northeast High in Philadelphia is rated 51st best in the nation.

With high rankings will come high expectations. That doesn’t bother Giles.

“I’m not going to come in all cocky and think I’m going to run things. (But) I’m going to try to break the freshman (rushing) record and be a Heisman candidate,” Giles said.

Whatever happens on the field, it seems Giles will be happy in Knoxville, far away from the mean looks he says he receives in his hometown.

“I’ve never seen anything like this community,” he said. “Never.”

Giles is UT’s sixth commitment for the 2009 signing class. He joins Revis, Stokes, tailback Toney Williams of Milton High in Alpharetta, Ga., running back Dominique Allen from Henry County High in Paris, Tenn., and athlete Damien Thigpen from Stonewall Jackson High in Manassas, Va.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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