Central Catholic outside linebacker Jalen Riven remembers vividly when he got his first college scholarship offer, even if he didn't realize right away that it actually was an official offer.

The University of Cincinnati gave Riven the offer during his junior season last year, and his suitors only picked up from there.

“That offer from Cincinnati was mind-blowing to me,” Riven said. “Because it was based on my sophomore year of film and I did have a pretty good sophomore tape but, to be offered by a school like Cincinnati was mind-blowing. ... That day, I put on my cleats for practice and [Central Catholic coach Greg Dempsey] called me to his office and said a coach from Cincinnati wanted to talk to me. It was just straight to the point.

“I couldn't believe it and I didn't even know it was an official offer at first. I got back to the locker room and every coach came up to me and was like, 'Congratulations man. This is huge'.” I was like 'What is going on?' ... That kick-started everything for me. After that, I had [University of Toledo] come in and Bowling Green and West Virginia. It was on from there.”

While Cincinnati was the initial domino in his recruiting process, Riven felt the allure of playing for his hometown school was too great, and he committed to play for Toledo.

“I feel like what stood out about Toledo was just being a hometown hero,” Riven said. “That was a big thing that every time I talked to [Toledo coach Jason Candle] he emphasized, and I agree 100 percent.

“I have such a big family that I thought it would be important for me to stay home and be there for them.”

Riven immediately connected with new Toledo defensive coordinator Vince Kehres and new assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator Craig Kuligowski.

“Coach VK is my position coach, and I built a great relationship with him,” Riven said. “He's from Mount Union, and he has been there his whole life. He understood and related to me with staying home. He just talked to me about the benefits that come with that.

“Coach Kool, I related to on a faith level, just because of everything that is going on right now. I would tell him on the phone how much I was praying and he was saying he is doing the same. He would quote Bible scriptures to me, and I just thought that was really cool.”

Central Catholic coach Greg Dempsey said he could recognize Riven's athletic gifts immediately, dating back to his freshman year. Even though Riven didn't pick up football until the eighth grade, his size and athleticism were already above average.

“Coming in, he had great athletic ability and you could really see that from the time he showed up on campus,” Dempsey said. “He had great size, and great athletic ability for that size. Every year, he got better and better in everything he has done as a football player.

“You really saw those things this season when he started to get the offers he was getting and the opportunity to go to University of Toledo. He started putting it all together. It gets you excited as a coach to think about what he can do this year.”

As Riven continues to grow physically, Dempsey said the next step is refining his skills, including his pass coverage, something he has not been asked to do often from his outside linebacker position.

“He has an explosiveness off the edge and a physicality at the point of attack that is phenomenal,” Dempsey said. “The types of things you want to see someone improve upon at his level is to start really refining your technique as a senior, which is really going to take you to another level.

“Then his experience is going to play a part in him becoming a better player just through repetition and being in the different situations and knowing what to expect. We're going to work on pass coverage probably most, because that is something in our scheme he wasn't asked to do a lot last year. He showed some great flashes and instincts for that.”

Last season, Riven spent some time on the offensive side of the ball as well, at wide receiver and hybrid tight end, something which he thinks has helped him mentally as an outside linebacker.

“It helped me a lot because I could see the schemes and see things from our own playbook that other offenses will run,” Riven said.

“If I would see a tight end going off the line, I would know most of the time what they would end up doing. There are only two or three things that you can really do, so I could tell that from their very first step. It definitely helped me out as far as player awareness.”

Dempsey believes Riven's potential for growth in college is consistent with what he has shown at Central Catholic.

“He's a very intense player that still has so much potential to grow as a player,” Dempsey said. “I think where he starts at as a freshman to where he will be as a senior will be similar to high school, where you just see these huge jumps because of his abilities.”

First Published May 29, 2020, 12:51 a.m.