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Recruiting spotlight: Falcons lineman Cross taking his time with college decision
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Flowery Branch High defensive end Izaan Cross (44) takes down a Lumpkin County High player in a 2007 football game. Cross, a senior, is one of the area’s top football recruits. - photo by File photo

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Listen to Flowery Branch senior Izaan Cross talk about the recruiting process

Izaan Cross has a travel itinerary this summer that reads more like a band’s concert schedule.

Flowery Branch’s standout defensive end is going to make a stop in Atlanta this summer. He’ll also stretch across the state border into Columbia, S.C. The 2007 Times All County selection also plans on making visits to the North Carolina cities of Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Winston-Salem before the first month of summer ends.

With those visits the highly-touted recruit at lineman will see the campuses of Georgia Tech, South Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest, where he already has been given offers to play football in college.

And he can’t forget about his workout obligations with Flowery Branch’s football and basketball teams.

So much for a summer vacation.

"The month of June is going to be crazy," Cross said.

The list of schools in the Carolinas is more or less the tip of the iceberg, rather than an all-inclusive list of schools, which want the 6-3, 250 pound Falcons two-year starter to come to their school.

The Boston native also holds offers from Florida State, Maryland, Arkansas, Oklahoma and West Virginia, among others.

"I can’t even keep up with all of his scholarship offers," Flowery Branch coach Lee Shaw said.

The hustle and bustle of looking at prospective colleges isn’t entirely new to Cross. Earlier this year, he visited spring practices at Georgia Tech and South Carolina.

Cross also took in the Florida spring football game in April.

"It’s been exciting to get recruited by so many schools but it’s also stressful at times." Cross said. "Sometimes I try to sit down and try to think about my top five or top three but then every day or every couple days a new school offers."

Cross is in no hurry to make a decision where he plays football in college. He wants to let the recruiting process run its course and see how many more offers he can add.

"It will probably be after football season before I make up my mind where I want to go to school," Cross added.

At this stage in the process the two-sport standout says he doesn’t have a favorite yet and hasn’t even started to narrow down his list to his favorite schools.

The Falcons coach said his defensive prospect has all the tools that college coaches are looking for in a lineman: he’s big, fast, strong, agile and still has room to grow.

"Izaan certainly passes the looks test, the character test and his grades are coming on strong," Shaw added. "I know he will be able to represent any school well."

Last season, Cross finished with 77 tackles (seven tackles for a loss) and four sacks.

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