Read that story earlier this week and that was exactly my thought
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Another 3 Star commit locked in Saturday. Corey picked the Hoos over offers from more than a dozen Power Four football programs, including Notre Dame, Indiana, North Carolina, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Michigan State, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Minnesota, Duke, and Boston College.
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Feels like thereās been a shift in the caliber of three star weāve been getting?
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Yeah, very big difference between the three stars weāre beating G5 programs for and 3 stars with multiple legit P5 offers.
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I went to a game at that stadium in the mid-80s. It didnāt look all that different (including attendance).
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Thatās whatās jumped out to me with the recent signings. They all have offers from mid to high tier P5s.
I read into that the athlete has potential to grow. And we have a staff whoās not trying to prove theyāre the smartest person in recruiting by exclusively hunting diamonds in the rough projects.
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I think it says that the staffās message is resonating. I think theyāre really good at scouting so itās not necessarily the worst thing in the world if a kid is an unknown, but the fact that multiple kids with offers from places like Tennessee, ND, UGA, Penn St, Michigan, etc. have picked us in this class is a good sign. Just seems like good vibes in the building right now.
Still need to win games on the field this year for any momentum to mean anything.
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It does seem like the staff has found their ācenterā when it comes to recruiting, which is very important. That first year was really rough sledding, we aimed super high to start off the cycle offering and pursuing a bunch of 4 and 5 star talent, and then when that inevitably didnāt work out it seemed like they panicked and took a bunch of flyers on prospects who shouldāve been plan D or E options.
This cycle feels like weāre landing a lot more plan B and C options, aka guys with legit P5 offers who might not be the top of the line picks but are still great players to fill out your class with. I am mad that VT got Jeff Overton though, heās gonna be a REALLY good RB for them.
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The new group of recruits are inline with what a program of UVa desired caliber should be. Football recruiting is very top heavy and in todayās world where itās near impossible to āwall off your turfā this is the best approach. @UVApride7 nailed it with type of player the Hoos are bringing in. These are the types of classes that schools with sustained success routinely bring in. They raise the floor which had been subpar for years now.
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Obviously the class of 25 weāre recruiting now wonāt really make a big impact until the 2027 season, three seasons away. Certainly like how this class is shaping up, no obvious headliners but otherwise itās got solid depth for this point in the cycle (17 commits is on a good pace for the beginning of July).
Now just need the staff to win enough and stay together long enough to let these guys develop.
Important to remember that the COVID/Bonus-Seniors will start petering out starting next year. Given that football by and large redshirts much more frequently that basketball does, weāll see the COVID senior population swelling the transfer portal for effectively one more cycle (for hoops, this upcoming 2024-25 season should be the last big season for them), which for our program is good and necessary because weāll still need to make up for past recruiting down-years, before the Coach E-recruited homegrown guys start making up the majority of the 2-deep in the 2026 season.
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This is far from my area of expertise, but I get the sense that 3 star recruits in football are often much better than 3 star recruits in basketball. I think itās just harder for the scouting services to be comprehensive and accurate in football. A lot more good players are flying under the radar.
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Yes, and Iād say with football especially with the 3Star tier players, itās like you mentioned with your son in the baseball thread. Football players can take longer to grow into their body. Itās why redshirting makes so much sense in football. The average football recruit still needs to slab on a few lbs of muscle to be stand out and the difference between a 18 year and 21/22 can be massive. This is especially true on the line where you canāt out finesse your opponent. Itās like what we saw with Blake X10.
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OL is still gonna be an issue, AC gives us a better chance to improvise with a thin OL. AC inspires confidence with his play and swagger, TM with his toughness. Love toughness in a QB but not when itās because heās getting cracked every play
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Qās are OL, can new receiving (WR and TE) replace Malik, will DL underperform again, secondary, and of courseā¦ special teamsā¦
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The AC vs. TM debate is honestly a difficult one for me without being on the ground to see practice. I agree on your assessment of both QBās. I think the other factor, which is key is TM is more careful with the ball, and overall bad decision making. The downside is he defaults to the check-down and takes the hit where AC will scramble to make a play. Both QBās have a place and it honestly depends on what the rest of the team looks like.
If the DL is able to stay healthy and perform that will go a long way to change the bend and slowly break defense into a bend donāt break unit. Also having a true bend donāt break D will help put the offense in better positions and hopefully encourage the staff to take some more shots.
The OL, I just pray for at this point. It has to improve or they may as well start @DFresh11 back there.
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Ifā the Offensive and defensive lines havenāt improved we are in serious Like several on here I been watching the new commitments
and I really like what I seeā¦ ā¦TE is gaining more of my confidence. the year ahead will hopefully show some major improvements
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I think itās forgotten, but the Oline did improve as the season progressed last season. During the month of October and early November the line largely held up their end of the deal and stopped conceding sacks and killer penalties. The VT game was a regression back to how the line looked against UT. but overall the line did improve which gives me hope for more growth this year and not starting 2 1st years will be helpful.
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VT seems to morph into the ā85 Bears or ā00 Ravens when they play us no matter who is on the OL.
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Last yearās OL 2-deep went into the season with:
- Brian Stevens - New transfer from FCS Dayton
- McKale Boley - True 2nd Year
- Ty Furnish - 280 lbs soaking wet
- Noah Josey - True 3rd Year (RS Soph)
- Ugonna Nnanna - New transfer from Houston
- Jimmy Christ - New transfer from PSU, hurt half the year
- Blake Steene - True 2nd Year (RS Freshman)
So in summary we had just two incumbent upperclassmen in the rotation (Josey and Furnish) and even then they were only just RS sophomores, Furnish having the additional challenge of being unfortunately undersized, otherwise working in true underclassmen and immediately eligible transfers.
Aside from QB, there isnāt a position group on the roster that benefits more from continuity and experience than OL.
For the OL Iām looking for homegrown players in their 3rd collegiate year or transfers in their 2nd year with the program. Last year we had one guy who met those criteria; this year weāve got them across the 2-deep, with really just Dartmouth transfer Ethan Sipe not fitting that criteria, and now weāve got the ability to use him as veteran depth rather than defaulting to making him an immediate starter.
Surefire Starters
LT - Boley - 3rd Year Starter
LG - Josey - 3rd Year Starter
C - Stevens - 2nd year at UVA, probably pre-season all-ACC
If healthy (giant IF) we can feel pretty good about those 3. Itās the right side where we need guys to step up.
RG Candidates:
- Furnish - last seasonās incumbent, but too small, needs to be overtaken
- Nnanna - behind Furnish on last seasonās 2-deep, hopefully benefits from another offseason
I had hopes for Noah Demeritt breaking out as a 3rd year after heād appeared in all 12 games last year but looks like heās gone, unfortunately. Of course Drake Metcalf was brought in from UCF to provide OG depth, but his Achilles injury probably rules that out this year. Guard depth is problematic, and may require tapping into the tackle depth to solve. Rising 2nd year Cole Surber (a solid prospect in the '23 class who had no appearances as a redshirting true freshman) could work his way into a backup role, but would still need to be brought along slowly and isnāt an answer if a starter goes down.
RT Candidates:
- Jimmy Christ - 5th year, 2 starts last year but obviously needs to get/stay healthy
- Steen - Rising 3rd year (RS Soph), 5 starts down the stretch last year. Breakout potential.
- Ethan Sipe - RS Senior transfer - 10 starts at RT for Dartmouth but no all-Ivy honors
- Charlie Patterson - Rising RS Junior - 8 appearances last year
- Houston Curry - Rising RS Soph - 2 appearances last year
- Jack Witmer - Rising RS Jr - former TE, appeared in all 12 games last year.
I think Christ and Steen battle it out here, maybe the āloserā of the starting RT battle becomes a backup swing tackle while we have Sipe for veteran depth and three other prospects in Patterson, Curry, and Witmer who are in their ābreakout / turn the cornerā window. Steen, listed at 340, could be a candidate to move inside in a pinch as well, most of those other developmental / ST guys are in the 290-300 range.
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