Chris Givens has something to prove -- and a friend's memory to honor
By Nick Wagoner
ESPN Staff Writer ESPN Staff Writer
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...s-perspective-new-number-mourning-loss-friend
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The question had barely even been asked before St. Louis Rams wide receiver Chris Givens blurted out the answer.
Is this a big year for yo ...
"Yes, point blank, period," Givens said. "I've got a lot to prove and I have got a lot on my chest I want to express through football, so I'm excited."
Entering his fourth NFL season, a contract year, Givens is carrying the weight of unmet expectations and an uncertain future. And when he says he has a lot on his chest, he's not just offering an athlete's platitude. Givens is wearing a new uniform number, 19, to honor a friend who died last Christmas Eve.
It's in that number Givens finds a daily reminder of how quickly everything can be lost.
Givens, 25, was the Rams' top playmaker this preseason, scoring on 80- and 44-yard catches. It was reminiscent of 2012. Wearing No. 13 back then, he led the Rams with 698 receiving yards during the regular season and set a rookie record by snaring at least one catch of 50 yards or more in five consecutive games.
But his production diminished in the two years that followed. Givens, unable to evolve as an intermediate route-runner, had just 11 catches in 2014. He was a healthy scratch in Weeks 5 and 6 and played just five snaps in Week 7.
Givens needed support as he dealt with his frustration. He got it from Kevin Smith-Franklin, Givens' best friend since their early high school days at T.H. Williams High in Plano, Texas.
Givens and Smith-Franklin were instant friends who became football rivals when Givens transferred to nearby Wylie High and Smith-Franklin ended up at Plano East. The pair would reunite at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
"When Chris and Kevin went to Wake, they were the only Texas guys," mutual friend Jordan Bowman said. "They had known each other a long time, but they were roommates and the only Texas guys around, so they leaned on each other."
Smith-Franklin was a starting defensive end for Wake Forest in 2010, but his football career ended the following summer. He was dismissed from the team after what head coach Jim Grobe described as "too many off-the-field issues."
When Givens' own career appeared headed toward a premature finish last year, he turned to Smith-Franklin, who arrived in early November to offer support and plenty of laughs. His friends knew Smith-Franklin, who cut an imposing figure at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, as a "gentle giant."
"He was a big guy and just friendly, everybody loved him, very playful," Givens said. "He was just one of those guys that everybody loved to be around."
As Thanksgiving approached, Samon Taylor, Smith-Franklin's mother, called her son and asked him if he'd be returning to Texas for the holiday. "He said, 'Momma, I need to spend time with my best friend,'" Taylor said. "He said he wasn't done spending time with him."
When Christmas came, Smith-Franklin went back to Plano with the intent of returning to St. Louis. He spent his first day enjoying Taylor's home cooking and hanging out with his little brother, Chris Smith.
On Christmas Eve, Smith-Franklin attended a party at a friend's house. He arrived with his friend Trayveon Wiley, who spent time as Smith-Franklin's understudy on the football field and basketball court in high school.
According to Wiley and some of Smith-Franklin's friends, an argument broke out at the party between another friend, Regis Hayes, and a woman. The police were called to the scene in response to the argument. Upon their arrival around 4 a.m., the remaining partygoers scattered.
Instead of getting back in Wiley's car, Smith-Franklin opted to hop in with Hayes. According to Wiley, Smith-Franklin needed to retrieve a phone charger from Hayes' car.
As the Plano police arrived, Hayes sped out of the parking lot in his black 2008 Saab -- Smith-Franklin was still in the car. An officer followed in pursuit on suspicion of intoxicated driving, according to police reports. Hayes initially pulled over, but as the officer prepared to talk to Hayes, he decided to flee. At speeds in the range of 100 mph, the officer decided to stop his pursuit.
Soon after, the officer found Hayes' car had crashed into a dumpster and an unoccupied van in a preschool parking lot. Neither Smith-Franklin nor Hayes was wearing a seatbelt. Hayes survived and was charged last month with two felonies: intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and evading arrest detention, causing death.
Smith-Franklin died at the scene.
"It was all very shocking as details started rolling in; it's almost like getting punched in the stomach," Simone Bridges, a longtime friend of Smith-Franklin's, said. "Every detail just becomes more and more crippling and painful and you wonder, why, why, why? Everyone has been asking that question for the past eight months. A lot of us are still like, this did not have to happen at all.
"That decision ended Kevin's life, and it affected so many other lives. It affected a whole city, really. I don't think Christmas will ever be the same. It's one of those things that will always taint that day forever."
Hours after the accident, Givens was sitting in a special teams meeting at Rams Park, preparing for that week's game against Seattle, when he got the text message. Givens' first instinct was outright denial but a flood of phone calls followed the message.
Smith-Franklin had just left Givens' house on Sunday to return to Texas. By early Wednesday morning, he was gone.
"I just didn't want to believe it," Givens said. "I got the text message in a special teams meeting and I was like, 'Somebody is just messing with me.' I thought, 'Kevin's phone was just off because his phone is always dead.'"
Givens played against the Seahawks with a heavy heart, logging 11 snaps before returning to St. Louis and then heading to Texas for the funeral.
Depending on who you ask, Givens was one of anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 people at Smith-Franklin's funeral on Jan. 3.
"I was in the front but I heard people were standing outside the church," Chris Smith said. "I knew he had a lot of friends, but I didn't know he had that many friends."
Chris Givens
Givens spent time in personal reflection this offseason while mourning the death of a close friend.
In the months since, Givens has emerged as one of many trying to help his friend's family. He regularly texts Smith-Franklin's brother and sister as they pursue their own athletic dreams; Chris is attempting to walk on to the football team at a junior college and Tatiyana is playing basketball at Arkansas. Givens also checks in with Taylor and is doing his part to help the family and Bridges establish a scholarship in Smith-Franklin's name at Plano East.
Givens also spent time in personal reflection after his friend's death.
"I used it as a lesson to give it my all every day, because you never know," Givens said. "It was a car crash. Anything can happen at any moment. I just thank God that I'm here and try to live each day to the fullest."
Givens said he was "completely honest" with himself, re-evaluating all he had and hadn't done in his first three NFL seasons. What he saw was an inconsistent player without the precision route-running or proper mindset needed to succeed. So Givens returned to Phoenix to spend a second consecutive year with Mack Newton, the renowned trainer who has worked with Bo Jackson, Charles Barkley and Rickey Henderson.
Givens initially connected with Newton at the behest of Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams, a former Ram who has served as a mentor of sorts for Givens. It was in Newton's gym Givens found his support system.
Newton and Givens discussed Smith-Franklin's death at length with Newton focusing on ways to ensure Givens was finding the proper ways to channel his grief -- by improving as a person and as a football player -- instead of internalizing it.
"He was searching, like a prospector searching for gold," Newton said. "The unfortunate passing of his friend really indicated to him the sense of urgency that he needed to have with his gift. This represents something that has an expiration date. None of us are going to survive this life, but it's what we do between the birth and the death that's really important."
Givens arrived daily at Newton's training facility at 9:15 a.m. Each morning started with a word of the day from Newton -- words like integrity, patience, compassion and determination.
From there, Newton put Givens through 20- to 30-minute stretching sessions and then a workout tailored toward improving his football skills. That would last for about an hour and a half. On most days, Givens would return at 3:45 for an afternoon session.
Chris Givens
The Rams could use a fast start from Givens during the season opener against the Seahawks.
Before training camp, Givens appeared an early candidate to be replaced on the roster. Then he led the Rams with nine catches for 206 yards and two touchdowns in the preseason and is positioned to get more snaps in the regular season, which begins Sunday in St. Louis against the defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks.
Givens' approach isn't the only thing that changed. That number 19 is also new to his football profile. He made the switch from 13 after the Rams cut wideout Devon Wylie early in training camp. It's an homage to Smith-Franklin, who wore 19 at Plano East.
"It's just been on my heart, just trying to figure out a way where I can honor him, and I thought about the number change. But we had somebody with 19, so I was just going to pray about it and give it time," Givens said. "Once Devon got cut, I couldn't get a more clear sign. So I just took the opportunity."
Taylor and Tatiyana Smith came up with their own way of remembering Smith-Franklin, each getting a bird with his name tattooed on her arm. If Chris Smith has his way, he, too, will be able to wear No. 19 if his football career blossoms.
But for Givens, that number is a way to carry on the lost dreams of a friend gone too soon, to represent a community in mourning and to wipe his own slate clean and begin anew.
"One of the things I told Chris -- and I'm taking it right from his file -- I said, 'Chris, you know what, most of the issues of integrity that you're going to face are not big issues,'" Newton said. "They're small issues, but it's the accumulated weight of our choices that is what has the impact on your sense of who you are.'"
It's a weight Givens now willingly carries on his chest, not dragging him down but lifting him up.
