The
WAR ROOM is back and this edition is full of football and hoops recruiting scoop! On the gridiron, the start of the season means visits and even though UVa isn't at home to start the 2015 campaign, we'll tell you about some of the players we're expecting to see on Grounds next weekend. We'll also touch on one key 2016 recruit that it looks like the Wahoos are making a push for as well as one key 2017 target that is really liking what he's hearing from the Cavaliers. Then on the hardwood, we'll give you the latest on official visits among UVa's top two wing targets, give you a quick breakdown on some of the guys who stood out to the staff during Elite Camp, and fill you in on a 2018 offer that went out this week to a player you'll hear a lot about in the coming years.
As always, what's said in the War Room, stays in the War Room. Let's go!
Making a move for Kamara
Virginia football's 2016 class at this point is all but wrapped up. The Cavaliers might end up adding three more recruits to the mix but by and large, the hay is already in the barn. The one position, though, where they could really use another prospect is at defensive tackle. Which brings us to three-star Hermitage standout
Sulaiman Kamara. As you might recall, he's a kid the Wahoos were in on early. For a long time, though, UVa couldn't seem to get any traction and he rarely mentioned them in the few interviews he did give.
That's why it came as a shock to some when Rivals.com's Adam Friedman posted a video interview with the 6-foot-1, 290-pound DT from Richmond and Kamara mentioned the Cavaliers. Now, Virginia has made Kamara's top five along with East Carolina, North Carolina, Temple, and Wake Forest.
Although Penn State continues to be a team some mention in regards to Kamara, it sounds like in talking to various sources like his focus really will be on those five schools. And if that happens, that's obviously great news for UVa. Just taking a glance at the class shows the Cavaliers could really use help on the interior of the defensive line, which hasn't exactly been a position where interest has flowed.
The two teams that seem to be giving the most opposition here are UNC and Wake. And, though he took a low key trip to Charlottesville in July, it'll be critical for Virginia to keep up the momentum by getting him on Grounds soon. Either way, the Cavaliers have gotten themselves squarely back in the mix.
Visitors lining up for next weekend
The Wahoos open their 2015 season this weekend but obviously, they'll be a long ways from Scott Stadium. That's why next weekend's home opener has a lot of potential in terms of visitors and given what we've heard this week, it certainly sounds like the Cavaliers will have some quality 2017 kids in the house.
We already knew that four-star Rivals250 junior defensive end
TyJuan Garbutt was planning to return to Charlottesville for the Notre Dame game (more on him in a second) but he won't be alone.
Fresh off his visit to UVa for the final scrimmage of the preseason and the recruit cookout, four-star Rivals250 junior defensive end
Yetur Matos will also be in attendance. The Chancellor standout has a nice offer list, obviously, and is someone the Cavaliers are really pushing hard to get. He and Garbutt, both Fredericksburg kids at a position of need, could be center pieces of Virginia's 2017 class.
In addition, UVa is also expecting to host four-star Rivals250 junior running back
AJ Dillon next weekend. The 6-foot, 228-pound running back from Groton (MA) Lawrence Academy has been a top target for some time and he's someone that has consistently talked about the Hoos.
Lastly, fresh off a team visit to Virginia earlier this week, three-star Woodberry Forest signal caller
Lindell Stone is also expected to visit for the game against the Irish. It seems like forever ago that UVa offered the 6-foot-1, 202-pound signal caller. He visited this week along with teammate three-star tight end
John Kirven, who many expect is a strong Virginia lean. His brother, Caid, is on the hoops team, which obviously doesn't hurt UVa's pursuit. There's a very good chance that the standout TE will be back in Charlottesville next weekend as well.
A serious option for Garbutt?
We said we'd get back to Garbutt and that's because, given some of the questions we've gotten about him, we thought it would be a good idea to examine the question above: How serious an option is Virginia?
In our conversations with him thus far, it certainly seems like he's really intrigued by the Wahoos and there's no doubt that he loves the location, the school itself, and the facilities. Having friends either committed to the Cavaleirs or being recruited by them is also going to help tremendously because Garbutt is definitely a recruit looking for comfort. That all being said, just because we see UVa as a serious option for him doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other serious options, and that might be the rub.
See, Garbutt isn't really showing signs of slowing down in terms of his recruitment, either from the standpoint of the interest he's getting or in terms of his interest in being involved in the process. It's gotten hectic for him, sure, but he's not bothered by that. Given that he's a 2017 recruit, the Riverbend standout is going to go a long time before he really starts to settle down.
This is obviously a gift and a curse as far as UVa is concerned. On the one hand,
Mike London has already done an outstanding job of making Garbutt feel at home in Charlottesville and Garbutt has pointed to London's influence as a big reason why he likes the Cavaliers. But with the season about to start, we'll know a lot more in a couple of months about the future of the program and if any changes will come. If so, the time left in this particular marathon means UVa would have a chance to make up group if needed but it also means the road would be tougher.
Bottom line: UVa is doing a really solid job in the 2017 class of laying the foundation, which is exactly what you'd expect when the 2016 class is all but sewn up. Don't be surprised if you hear a lot of the same names for various visits this year as they really push hard for some of these 2017 targets.
Still two targets on the wing
As we transition to the hardwood, we thought we'd start with the 2016 class. Obviously, it "lost" one member on Thursday night when UVa officially announced that four-star Rivals150 standout
Mamadi Diakite had been admitted and would redshirt during the 2015-2016 season.
As we have talked about at length the past couple of months, the last scholarship the Wahoos have at their disposal in this class will go to the wing and
Tony Bennett and his staff are continuing to push hard to wrap that up. It looks like right now it probably won't happen as soon as they'd hoped.
The top two targets remain four-star Rivals150 standouts
DeAndre Hunter and
Braxton Blackwell. And as of this week, UVa was continuing to push hard to line up official visits for both.
At this point, sources said that when the 2016 commits take their officials next weekend, Hunter is more likely to be a part of that group of visitors even though nothing has been set up yet and it doesn't look likely. UVa still feels really strong about where things are with Blackwell, as the Tennessee native and recent Oak Hill Academy enrollee will visit at some point this month. The picture with Hunter remains a little murky, though.
According to sources, Hunter had gotten a little hard to catch up with but Bennett had a really great talk with him and his mother this week. The feeling is that it's still possible that he takes his visit next weekend but we can't say it's likely. At this point, it sounds like Hunter will be at Oklahoma State the following weekend, Miami either the next weekend or the one after, and then at Notre Dame in October. What's interesting here is that at least one source we spoke to said that Hunter might not take an official to Villanova or UVa, given that he took unofficial visits to both places fairly recently.
Next weekend doesn't look like an option for Blackwell, who we hear is in no rush at all when it comes to recruiting. In fact, one source passed along that there's some talk coming from him and his family that he might really slow things down and even wait to make a decision until around Christmas, which would obviously push his signing into the spring. Word we've heard is that he's likely to take his official either before the weekend is out and he won't be alone: Four-star Rivals150 commit
Kyle Guy will still take his official with the other two commits next weekend but will come back whenever Blackwell visits as well.
The recruiting calendar doesn't allow coaches back out on the road until September 9 and word we've heard is that Bennett is likely going to OHA next week to see not only Blackwell but 2017 four-star PG
Matt Coleman.
Elite Camp ripples
Now that we're a couple of weeks removed from UVa's Elite Camp, we wanted to reach out to sources and see what the Cavaliers thought about various prospects now that they've had some time to settle on their various evaluations.
The first thing we heard from sources is that the staff was absolutely blown away by the 2018 kids in attendance. Obviously, that list is led by Park View standout
Keldon Johnson, who simply wowed the staff all day. He remains a top, top target for Bennett in that class and word is that he might try to go check in on Johnson soon. In addition, we hear Virginia was really impressed with
John Newman and
Will Dillard, both wing prospects from Greensboro (NC) Greensboro Day. They each are on a laundry list of 2018 kids that assistant coaches will be out to see this fall including Norfolk big man
David McCormack.
In the 2017 class, because of the scholarship crunch, things are a little different. It sounds like there's still a lot of guys among that group who will also continue to be tracked. The ones we heard that stood out to UVa's coaches included
Brendan Newton and
Luke Frampton. We didn't get the vibe that UVa was close to throwing down any offers in the 2017 class, obviously, but these guys will continue to be on the radar for the upcoming season.
New 2018 offer out
Speaking of throwing offers down, UVa did just that this week with 2018 guard
Darius Garland.
At first glance, you might think there's a team connection to the Nashville (TN) Brentwood Academy standout. And word we've heard is that there is but not through the various guys from Tennessee. UVa first really started tracking Garland after watching him at Peach Jam. From there, things progressed given a previous relationship between Bennett and the family as well as his high school coach. Recently, UVa was made aware of just how much interest Garland has in the Wahoos and things sort of went from there.
This is a recruitment that is likely to really blow up in the coming months and Garland appears to be a player that will garner a lot of interest on the trail. Rivals.com's Eric Bossi has already called Garland one of the top shooters in the class. We expect, given everything we've heard in the last week or so, that UVa will be tough to beat in the long run. He'll likely be one of the targets the staff tries to get on Grounds for its annual underclassmen day, which will probably be in October.
That is it for this week, and as always, what's said here, stays here!
