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Cam Blivens turned the old adage, "The pen is mightier than the sword," on its head when he was in eighth grade, and ruined Nash Stark's new Lululemon khakis in the process.
The Lipcomb Academy seniors and basketball teammates were rough housing at Blivens' place one day when the latter, who has signed to play football for Dabo Swinney at Clemson, turned a pen into a sword.
"It was cracked open and I threw it at him," Blivens said with a grin after a recent practice.
"Busted all over my brand-new pants. Ink all over them," Stark said. "It was pretty fun."
Expect for the part when Stark's parents set eyes on on their son's new pants.
"I got in a lot of trouble," Stark said.
Blivens, an an all-state athlete in three sports who also participates in track and field, has received plenty of ink since that day, thanks to his athletic exploits on football fields and courts and tracks, and his demeanor off of them.
Let's begin with the football field, where Blivens earned the attention of many schools, including Columbia basketball, to whom he was committed to before changing his mind and sport.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound receiver/defensive back had 63 receptions for 1,086 yards and nine touchdowns last season, when he also ran for a score, threw for two more, made three interceptions and returned two punts for touchdowns.
He was a Division II-AA Mr. Basketball finalist in 2024, and was averaging 23.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game for the Mustangs through Feb. 12 of this season.
And he is an all-state high-jumper.
"He's a horrible driver, genuinely a bad driver," Lipscomb Academy basketball teammate Will Humphrey said. "We go to Chick-fil-A all the time; it's like a mile away. I'm scared every time."
"Some people say I'm a bad driver," Blivens said. "But that's all they hate on me for."
Blivens' basketball coach, Kevin Starks, concurred.
"Very seldom to do you have this talented of a kid athletically, and no one says anything bad about Cam," he said. "And not because they're just trying to be nice."
But rather because he is nice.
Blivens was the only freshman to start on varsity during his first year of high school. All of his other classmates were on the freshman team, save for Stark, who dressed but rarely played.
"Cam went to every one of their games and sat on the bench and cheered them on, and he wasn't even playing with them at the time," Starks said. "But they're his classmates. That's who he is. His parents raised him the right way.
"He's worked himself to death to get what he's gotten; the Clemson thing is deserving. That is a prize for hard work and dedication."
While Starks and Stark and Humphrey and the rest of Blivens' teammates are looking forward to seeing play on football fields on Saturdays in the future, they are relishing the opportunity to play with and coach him while it lasts.
"I'm a fan of him now," Starks said. "I don't want to lose him because you can't replace the guy. What I'm looking forward to is the plan that God has for his life. I'm looking forward to watching that."
In other words, to watching Blivens continue to write his own story.
With a pen that's not broken.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lipscomb Academy's Cam Blivens, a Clemson football signee, elite hooper too
Continue reading...
The Lipcomb Academy seniors and basketball teammates were rough housing at Blivens' place one day when the latter, who has signed to play football for Dabo Swinney at Clemson, turned a pen into a sword.
"It was cracked open and I threw it at him," Blivens said with a grin after a recent practice.
"Busted all over my brand-new pants. Ink all over them," Stark said. "It was pretty fun."
Expect for the part when Stark's parents set eyes on on their son's new pants.
"I got in a lot of trouble," Stark said.
Blivens, an an all-state athlete in three sports who also participates in track and field, has received plenty of ink since that day, thanks to his athletic exploits on football fields and courts and tracks, and his demeanor off of them.
'He's a horrible driver'
Let's begin with the football field, where Blivens earned the attention of many schools, including Columbia basketball, to whom he was committed to before changing his mind and sport.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound receiver/defensive back had 63 receptions for 1,086 yards and nine touchdowns last season, when he also ran for a score, threw for two more, made three interceptions and returned two punts for touchdowns.
He was a Division II-AA Mr. Basketball finalist in 2024, and was averaging 23.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game for the Mustangs through Feb. 12 of this season.
And he is an all-state high-jumper.
"He's a horrible driver, genuinely a bad driver," Lipscomb Academy basketball teammate Will Humphrey said. "We go to Chick-fil-A all the time; it's like a mile away. I'm scared every time."
"Some people say I'm a bad driver," Blivens said. "But that's all they hate on me for."
Blivens' basketball coach, Kevin Starks, concurred.
"Very seldom to do you have this talented of a kid athletically, and no one says anything bad about Cam," he said. "And not because they're just trying to be nice."
But rather because he is nice.
Clemson 'a prize for hard work'
Blivens was the only freshman to start on varsity during his first year of high school. All of his other classmates were on the freshman team, save for Stark, who dressed but rarely played.
"Cam went to every one of their games and sat on the bench and cheered them on, and he wasn't even playing with them at the time," Starks said. "But they're his classmates. That's who he is. His parents raised him the right way.
"He's worked himself to death to get what he's gotten; the Clemson thing is deserving. That is a prize for hard work and dedication."
While Starks and Stark and Humphrey and the rest of Blivens' teammates are looking forward to seeing play on football fields on Saturdays in the future, they are relishing the opportunity to play with and coach him while it lasts.
"I'm a fan of him now," Starks said. "I don't want to lose him because you can't replace the guy. What I'm looking forward to is the plan that God has for his life. I'm looking forward to watching that."
In other words, to watching Blivens continue to write his own story.
With a pen that's not broken.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lipscomb Academy's Cam Blivens, a Clemson football signee, elite hooper too
Continue reading...
