Perry Bonds came very close to playing football at Culver-Stockton College this fall. The recent Griggsville-Perry graduate isn't sure what changed his mind the day he was supposed to sign with the Wildcats.

"I was going to go to (Culver) and the day of their (signing in May) for their football players, the day of it I just called and talked to (the coach) and I was like, 'I just really don't want to play football.' That's when I decided I didn't want to."

Bonds can't explain why he called an audible that day.

But earlier this month he finally made a commitment he's comfortable with, deciding to play basketball at MacMurray.

"I was pretty sure that I was going to Culver to play football," Bonds said. "And then I just changed my mind at the last second. ... I had a hard time deciding because I had a lot of fun playing football -- it's a big adrenaline sport. There's nothing like the feeling of playing football and stuff. I just kept changing my mind, changing my mind."

Then one day something about basketball and MacMurray clicked.

"I just really like basketball a lot and that's why I kind of decided to (go that route)," Bonds said. "MacMurray's coach (Todd Creal) is a really great guy. He really makes me feel like I'm at home more than anybody else that I talked to."

Bonds also pondered playing both sports in college.

"I was kind of debating but I talked to people and they said it takes up a lot of your time," Bonds said. "And with the way my knees are, I don't know if I could handle two sports anyways."

The success of Bonds' senior basketball season, which included winning a regional championship and earning Herald-Whig Player of the Year honors, helped seal his decision.

"I figured I might as well go with something I went out well in," Bonds said.

But then again, the same could have been said for football this past fall.

But something about basketball, the sport he's played ever since he could dribble, seemed like the better option.

A natural athlete like Bonds couldn't have gone wrong.

He could have been a skilled quarterback at a Division II or III school. But instead he chose basketball, a sport where he'll be playing in the Class 1A/2A Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Senior All-Star game at the Shirk Center in Bloomington.

Bonds is confident in his decision to play basketball. But he wishes he made it sooner.

"I wish I would've kind of got out on the market in basketball because I told a lot of people that called me about basketball that I was going to play football," Bonds said. "And after I got that done I switched my mind. ... I already told a few coaches that I was playing football -- which was really stupid on my part. But I had my mind set that I was playing football and then I switched it to I was playing basketball."

-- mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3367