The
WAR ROOM is back and this special edition is full of football recruiting scoop! The Wahoos have a big one tonight in Scott Stadium as they host Boise State under the lights on national television. While it'll obviously be a big opportunity for the Cavaliers to impress recruits near and far thanks to the ESPN broadcast, there will also be visitors in the stands that are worth pointing out. Since it's Friday night and a lot of recruits are playing tonight as well, the Hoos are expecting to host a couple of committed guys and a couple of intriguing juniors in addition to one key official visitor who could very well be the next member of Virginia's 2016 class. We'll give you the background on that and tell you how we think that one will play out as well as touch on a potential incoming transfer that could really move the needle. How excited should fans be at this point about that possibility? We'll break it down for you and tell you how we see that one unfolding down the road.
As always, what's said in the War Room, stays in the War Room. Let's go!
Several visitors expected tonight
Virginia has a big opportunity tonight when the Hoos host Boise State. And not only will it likely be a packed house with a lot of energy for a rare night game at David A. Harrison III Field but it will be a game that will be nationally televised. Of course, since it's Friday, there will be a lot of recruits that will be at their own games. But that doesn't mean Virginia won't be able to host some prospects.
The group tonight will include a pair of UVa commits in three-star quarterback
Sonny Abramson and offensive lineman
Dillon Reinkensmeyer. In addition, the Wahoos will host
George Brown, a 6-foot, 283-pound junior defensive tackle from Chancellor, and three-star junior defensive back
Stu Head, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound safety from Woodstock (GA) Etowah. His offer list already includes Cal, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Virginia Tech, among others.
But the visitor to watch this "weekend" (especially since Abramson will be in town tonight) is three-star official visitor
Kenny Ruff. The 6-foot-1, 236-pound Fort Lauderdale (FL) Dillard linebacker has a pretty solid offer list with Clemson, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Purdue, Rutgers, and South Carolina on his list, among others. His visit will run Thursday to Saturday because of the Friday night game and all signs point to the Cavaliers getting this one done. This has all the vibes of a "come see your desk" type of job interview. And it's understandable that a kid from the Sunshine State might want to actually see things before he commits, much like three-star running back
LaDerrien Wilson did a couple of weeks ago.
It's worth noting that Virginia, in addition to a few camp guys, is also expecting Charlottesville, Covenant, Albemarle, Western Albemarle, and Monticello to be there tonight with their teams.
Is Clark a legit option?
If and when Ruff decides to make the call and join the UVa football family, that'll give the Wahoos 25 commits in the class of 2016. While there are no Taquan Mizzell or Quin Blanding types, it's a group of solid prospects. The only true weakness in the class might be at defensive tackle, where the Cavaliers could really use at least one commit. Considering we've heard that UVa could take as many as 27 in this class, that leaves a little wiggle room.
Which is why the news this week that former Rivals100 tight end
Chris Clark was back on the recruiting radar is worth noting. And we can't put the emphasis more on "paying attention to" rather than "getting excited about," at least right now.
If you remember Clark's saga during his recruiting days in the class of 2015, you'll recall that the now former UCLA tight end traversed quite the recruiting roller coaster. The nation's top tight end and No. 79 overall in the class, the four-star Connecticut native committed three times during his recruitment, beginning at first in a shocker to North Carolina in March 2014 (just days after being very excited about a visit to Charlottesville, for the record). That commitment held for about three weeks, if that long given the calls he had to have taken to start lining up visits. He took a trip to Notre Dame short thereafter and said he was "kinda open" but didn't consider himself a decommit. That was until June when he said he had a top four of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and UNC. About 10 days later, he committed to Michigan and told our UM site that the biggest reason he wanted to commit then was so that he could recruit for the Wolverines and that even though he wasn't supposed to announce again for a weeks he "didn't want to miss out." He was pretty emphatic that he was done with the recruiting process.
Fast forward to October and, with Brady Hoke squarely on the hot seat, Clark begins to look around again. After an official visit to Chapel Hill, he backed out of his Michigan verbal on December 2, which admittedly coincided with UM firing Hoke. Still, he picked up the pieces of his recruitment and got things going again, this time eventually landing at UCLA on Signing Day following a visit there in January.
Now, after being on campus for a very short amount of time and not having been a Bruin very long, he's already decided to leave, gotten his release, and is planning visits with a decision timeline that he'd like to wrap up in early November. If Clark Griswold was here, he'd be asking for the Tylenol by now.
We took you through all of that history to underscore what we hope is obvious: Please be very careful about hopes and expectations on this one. This is a situation where (and we're not just being coy or funny) you need to just let the process play out. And we mean all the way out. Like arrives in Grounds and has been seen in an actual class. Okay, maybe not quite that far but you get the gist.
Clark says he is going to visit three ACC schools in the coming weeks: Pitt, UVa, and NC State. His release from UCLA originally prohibited him from going to Michigan, Michigan State, or OSU, but UCLA has since removed those restrictions (none of those schools appears to be an option). So, it's likely going to be a school on the east coast that eventually lands the tight end prospect. At this point, it doesn't look like Notre Dame will be an option but with Clark's history, who knows what will stick. Maryland seems to be a potential landing spot as well but as of yet, no visit has been scheduled.
If his visit schedule holds, it means he'll actually get to see UVa twice. Well, at least on the field. He's supposed to see the Panthers on the weekend of October 9, which is when the Cavaliers will be in town. He's scheduled to come to Charlottesville the following weekend, as the Wahoos will be hosting Syracuse.
For now, our advice (and we may be begging a bit here) is to sit back and let this one unfold without much investment either way. Do yourself a solid and don't breathlessly follow the ins and outs here. Maybe Clark can find a school closer to home and settle in, becoming a very productive player once he enrolls for the second semester and sits out the 2016 season. And maybe that school will be UVa. But for now, it's impossible to forecast how this one will play out other than to say it's probably going to have lots of peaks and lots of valleys.
That is it for this week, and as always, what's said here, stays here!
