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OT, what's your fantasy FB team look like thread...

Draft in my keeper league today

QB - P. Manning
RB - Forte
RB - Doug Martin
RB/WR - Tre Mason (also handcuffed Gurley for when he's ready)
WR - Dez Bryant
WR - Mike Wallace
WR - Davante Adams
Flex - Markus Wheaton
TE - Ladarius Green (also picked up Gates for later in the year)
K - Matt Bryant
D/ST - Broncos

12 team league...IMO we have too many starting spots, but that's just me.

Offseason visit makes mark on 2017 R250 DE Garbutt

I caught up with 2017 Rivals205 DE TyJuan Garbutt over the weekend. He told me offseason visits to Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and West Virginia stuck out to him. Garbutt feels close with coach Galloway at WVU, coach Franklin at PSU, coach London at UVA and coach Powell at Pitt. He will be at Virginia Tech for the Ohio state game and Virginia for the Notre Dame game. Garbutt wants to visit Penn State, Syracuse and others this season as well. He has been a fan of Ole Miss, Ohio State and Florida State and would like an offer.

Video: Visits leave mark on 2017 R250 DE Garbutt

TJ Griffin won't enroll at UVa

From UVa:

Here is a statement from Virginia head football coach Mike London regarding T.J. Griffin, who signed a national letter of intent with Virginia in February:

"We have granted T.J. Griffin a release from his letter of intent to allow him to enroll at another institution this fall. He contacted me with the request and explained his reasons for not wanting to enroll at a prep school this fall. I understand his personal situation and want to do what is best for this young man and his family. We wish him the best in the future.”

Just talked to four-star DE TyJuan Garbutt...

Just got off the phone with four-star Rivals250 junior DE TyJaun Garbutt talking about his visit to UVa for the scrimmage and cookout yesterday and it sounds like the 2016 commits (especially fellow Fredericksburg native Nick Grant) really made Garbutt and the other uncommitted kids feel at home.

Garbutt told me that he really likes what he's hearing from the Cavaliers, specifically head coach Mike London. Garbutt loves his passion and the way he faces challenges in addition to the way he coaches. He also said there's also a lot else to like about the school, especially the location. That being said, he's already got 14 offers and more on the way. Ohio State, Auburn, and several other powerhouse schools are starting to get in the mix.

We'll have a full update for early this week.

Montana- ND ST

Very good football game. Did some research on the new Montana coach and it seems like this guy is enough of an offensive guru where big-time coaches are going to him and studying his offense. The college game has moved to that side of the ball where effective coaches other than a few teams are using spread offenses to be effective. Kind of funny that guy came from a D2 school that no one has heard of haha.

Some quick football recruiting nuggets...

Probably not enough for a full-fledged War Room but I wanted to pass along some visitor info for tomorrow's team scrimmage and the annual recruit cookout thereafter. In addition to about a dozen of the local/regional commits, UVa is expecting several solid visitors.

The biggest name is probably 2017 DE TyJuan Garbutt from Riverbend in Fredericksburg. He's been a frequent visitor already this year, having come down for a practice earlier in camp in addition to a couple of other visits in the spring. While his offer list is pretty impressive already, the four-star defender clearly likes what he's heard from the Cavaliers. We'll be catching up with him following the trip to get his thoughts.

Another Fredericksburg prospect expected tomorrow is four-star Chancellor DE Yetur Matos, who really blew up this summer. He's a kid that really impressed the staff at camp and then just about everybody else, too. Folks I've talked to expect Penn State to be tough to beat in the long run but there's still quite a ways to go.

Staying in the 2017 class, three-star Sherando linebacker Dylan Rivers is also expected to be in Charlottesville tomorrow. UVa was in on him early but from talking to various folks it sounds like the Cavaliers have some work to do.

Lastly in that class, perhaps the one kid to keep an eye on most given the realities of their recruitments might be rising junior offensive tackle Mekhi Becton from Highland Springs. Sure, he doesn't have the offer list that the other three do but at 6-foot-7, 300 pounds, he got the size that everybody wants at that position. Don't be shocked if he blows up and good on UVa for offering him early.

Finally, one 2018 visitor we've heard might make the trip is Dinwiddie's K'Vaughan Pope. A really talented athlete with great size that could probably play a variety of spots, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Pope already has an offer from UVa. He's going to see a lot of interest in a hurry.

Way too early 2016-17 hoops line-up discussion

I know it's early, but will ask you to look into your crystal ball, and predict what will happen with the starting 5 after the 2016 class moves on. The easy/most obvious answer will be "it's too early, we'll have to see how this year plays out", but resist the urge to say that and just answer with your gut.

Nothing is ever 100% definite, but I'd say 99.9%, LP & Austin Nichols are locks to start.

I'd put Shayok at 80% to start at SF.

The question marks are SG and PF. The 2 main candidates at SG will be Hall & Thompson...maybe Guy, but I don't think he passes two 4th years up as a FR. My gut says Hall based on his summer practices, and the fact that he shoots it a little better than DT. Guy & Jerome are both obviously great shooters, so I think it evens out the line-ups a bit playing the more athletic DT with the freshmen on the 2nd unit.

At PF, I'm really excited to see what Wilkins brings this year with his added size. Throw in that MD will likely RS, and he'll have a year in the system as well. Really believe this one is a 50/50 toss-up, and both Wilkins & Diakite will play a very similar number of minutes regardless of who is identified as the "starter". While I don't think either one is a legit candidate to start next year, also want to see who emerges between Salt & Reuter this year. Doubt we play more than 4 at PF/C on a consistent basis, and Nichols, Wilkins & Diakite all definitely will play. Only one other slot for regular minutes.

Question About Danny Hultzen

Is Danny Hultzen having much success with his professional career? My recollection is that he and Gerritt Cole came out in the same year and there was some discussion about who should be selected first. Cole is obviously a big star with the Pirates but Hultzen appears to have pitched only occasionally in the majors. Am I to conclude injuries have hampered his career? I know someone here has followed his career closely so please fill me in.

War Pantry

Suleiman Kamara, 3* DT from Hermitage HS in Richmond will soon release his top 5. UVA hopes to be on his list. Sean Mahone, a 3* CB from West Chester, Ohio was supposed to announce a couple of weeks ago but still has not announced. On the basketball front, UVA is hoping to secure visits in September from 4* SFs Brandon Blackwell and DeAndre Hunter.
That is it from this edition of the War Pantry. Feel free to tell everybody.

Interesting stuff from Jeff White...

You'll definitely want to give this notebook from Jeff a look if you haven't already.

According to Jeff, the two freshmen likely to play on offense are wide receivers David Eldridge and...Olamide Zaccheaus. That's not really much of a surprise on Eldridge, who was already playing his way into spot reps with the 1s. If you'll recall, Zaccheaus was a guy we were really intrigued by both from scrimmage and in the return game but the numbers at running back didn't bode well for him playing this season. So with the loss of TJ Thorpe for roughly half the year, it looks like UVa has decided to use his skillset away from the RB spot and that's a move I like a lot.

Also, echoing some of what we heard earlier this week, it sounds like filling the third starting LB spot is still a work in progress as Mark Hall, Malcolm Cook, and CJ Stalker are all in the mix.

We're set to talk to Mike London on the teleconference line at 10:30 a.m. and then I'll be on a call this afternoon with RBs coach Chris Beatty and OL coach Dave Borbely. Since I'll be asking questions on that call, I won't do live updates but I'll post a couple of notes after and then do full-fledged features tomorrow and early next week.


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