Locker Room Access - Virginia

Virginia has hosted key 2025 recruits on official visits each of the past two weekends, with another expected this week.  All the latest on the recruiting front.  And what we’re hearing about UVA’s offensive revamp in this edition of the LRA Intel Report.   

Revamp

Comments from forward recruit Cam Ward received heavy attention on social media this week.  Following his UVA official visit, he had this to say in an interview with On3.  

“They (UVA) get a lot of hate for how they play,” Ward said. “But they showed me how they revamped their whole system. They go fast now. They play fast and try to get up a lot of threes and play within the lines.”

Playing faster fits with what we heard over the summer.  They want to push the ball up the court and be more aggressive looking for opportunities in transition.. That was a real emphasis in summer practices.   If they stick to it, that would result in an uptick in place of play. 

However,  when players say playing fast what they sometimes mean is a more free flowing offensive style.  Not necessarily related to pace.  I suspect that’s closer to how Ward meant it.  

According to what I’ve heard, we will see a revamped offense this season.  I don’t have any details on what that looks like.  Just hints that it's a more modern style. Ward’s comments add intrigue.  Apparently, some of the ideas being implemented were put forth by Assistant Coach Isaiah Wilkins.  A source this week referred to Wilkins as the offensive coordinator.  

Recent Visits

Largo (MD) forward Cam Ward was in Charlottesville on an official visit this past weekend.  That seemed to come together on short notice.  I didn’t know he was visiting until he posted it on Instagram after arriving Friday.  Associate Head Coach Ron Sanchez had just been to see him a few days before.  

The visit must have gone really well too.  It got back to me that Cam told a neutral party that the UVA visit was his favorite so far.  The Hoos suddenly have momentum with a prized recruit who we weren’t sure we’d have any real shot with just a week ago.  

The real competition for Ward lies ahead.  He has upcoming visits to Kansas State (9/13), Maryland (9/20), and Michigan State (10/04).  While there’s no clear favorite, those three have been heavily involved all the way.  He’s also scheduled to visit Alabama (10/11).  The other team in the mix is Marquette, where he visited in June.  

UVA hosted New Hampton (NH) point guard Keyshuan Tillery the previous weekend for an official visit.  The Hoos jumped in the race for him after the July live periods.  They’re in full pursuit now.  Tony Bennett followed up the visit by stopping at Tillery’s school to have lunch with him last Wednesday.  

Tillery has already completed officials to Florida, Virginia, and Wake Forest.  There are still three more scheduled to Cincinnati (9/13), Ohio State (9/20), and Villanova (10/04).  He’s considering Syracuse and Kansas as well.  Like with Ward, there’s no clear favorite.  UVA believes they’re a serious contender, again with some momentum. 

Mallory Weekend

Hometown product St. Anne’s Belfield (VA) point guard Chance Mallory will be on Grounds this weekend for his long-awaited official visit.   It’s been a marathon recruitment, certainly for UVA’s standards.  He was the first real priority recruit in the 2025 class with the Hoos in full pursuit since offering last summer.   That’s still the case.  Bennett along with Ron Sanchez and Jason Williford were waiting at STAB first thing on Wednesday morning when the recruiting period opened.  

Mallory visited VA Tech last weekend, his first official visit.  He has four more scheduled to Clemson (9/20), Villanova (9/27), Tennessee (10/11), and Miami (10/25).  

If UVA could have their choice of any guard on the board, they would pick Mallory. But at this point, it’s first come first served.  The coaching staff has been trying to get him to speed up his decision, so far to no avail.  They’ll certainly continue that effort this weekend.  I doubt he’ll  consider making a choice before visiting Clemson and Villanova.  There are gaps in his visit schedule after that, allowing for a potential window of opportunity. 

Mallory still seems to be the most likely of the current group of guard targets to end up at UVA.   Followed by Keyshuan Tillery and Gonzaga (DC) guard Derek Dixon.  The latest chatter on Dixon has me downgrading the odds with him a little, but still a real possibility.  The other guard on the board is Utah Prep point guard JJ Mandaquit, scheduled to visit on the weekend of September 27th.  

Forwards

As of the time of this writing on Wednesday night, I don’t expect Highland (VA) forward Nate Ament to visit this weekend as previously scheduled.   A UVA source said earlier in the week that he would be shocked if it happened.   It’ll be rescheduled for a later date, probably some time in October. 

Ament fully intends to wait until the late signing period to make a college choice.  He’s going to schedule some visits this fall and more during basketball season.  Judging by the many coaches who’ve been by his school this past week, there are probably going to be a lot of visits.  Look for UVA to stay involved as long as there’s a spot open, but obviously none of this bodes well for our side.  

Tony Bennett was up to see St. Thomas More (CT) forward London Jemison last week.  He has two more visits left, to Louisville this weekend then the final trip to Charlottesville set for September 27th.   Alabama, where he just visited, is believed to be the team to beat.   He’s also taken recent trips to Vanderbilt and Kansas.  

Virginia is also trying to get a visit from Tre Singleton.  The Jeffersonville (IN) forward has UVA in his final 8.   UVA’s Ron Sanchez was in Indiana to see him on Tuesday.  He has three more visits set to Purdue (9/13), Notre Dame (9/27), and Clemson (10/04).   Louisville, where he’s already visited, is believed to be in a good spot.  

After this past weekend, Cam Ward is the forward UVA is in the best position for.  They have at least a fighting chance for London Jemison.   It’s hard to be very optimistic about the situation with Nate Ament at this point.  And we’ll see whether Tre Singleton schedules a visit.   

What’s Ahead

We’re in the thick of fall recruiting.  More upcoming visits obviously and probably some twists along the way in the weeks ahead before this 2025 recruiting cycle gets put to bed.  

Regular practices start in less than two weeks.  The annual Blue-White scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday October 5th.  Not too far from a new season.  Hopefully, we’ll have a couple commitments to talk about before then.  As always, thanks for subscribing to Locker Room Access. 

By Josh Burton

The University of Virginia Football team escaped Wake Forest with their first win in Winston-Salem since 2002, a 31-30 Saturday night thriller.  Let's dive into the good, the bad and everything in between.

Offense

This game in many ways felt like UVA Football of recent years, highlighted by a high flying offense and led primarily by the passing game. Anthony Colandrea was very good slinging the ball around for over 350 yards. He did have two interceptions, but only one was really on him.  The other was the result of a batted down pass at the line that fell into the arms of the defensive end on the opposite side.  Malachi Fields was the most impressive receiver.  He was nearly unguardable with 11 catches for 148 yards. Tight End Tyler Neville had a huge night as well.  The Harvard transfer hauled in a pair of touchdown receptions, both in the second quarte from 18+ yards out (18 yards then 24 yards, respectively).

If anything, UVA has found three really talented playmakers in this game.

Malachi Fields, Trell Harris and Tyler Neville have combined for 18 catches for 281 yards (15.6 per catch) and 3 TDs.

— Preston Willett (@PrestonWillett) September 8, 2024

The issues I had with the offensive game were on the strategic side, particularly pertaining to the rushing attack. In football, “the box” is the space between offensive tackles and within 6-8 yards of the line of scrimmage. What you’re looking for with the box is strictly a numbers advantage. With five offensive linemen and five defensive players in the box, you have an advantage on offense. Each defender is “counted for” to be picked up by a blocker, leaving the running back space to run. This continues to work as you add extra blockers such as tight ends, full backs, etc.,  just add one defender for each additional blocker to continue to have the advantage. Then when the offense capitalizes on their advantage in the box, the defense adjusts and it opens more space in the passing game.  

Most of our rushing attack seemed to be designed on getting to the edges, while for most of the contest we had a positive advantage inside the box. Essentially we were running to where Wake was playing as opposed to taking advantage of the space inside they were giving up. As we weren’t finding much success,  we abandoned the running game and leaned more on the playmaking of Colandrea. While Colandrea was very good, I was surprised to see the staff not trying to establish the run more.  Wake’s defense had given up 185 rushing yards the week before to a lowly North Carolina A&T team and was lining up in a way to give us the advantage to do so. Equally strange was that of the 28 rushing attempts, it was an even split with 14 going to running backs and 14 combined carries between the two quarterbacks ( Junior Grady Brosterhous came in for the “Grady Bunch” play, UVA’s version of the “tush push” to score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter). There will be plenty of questions about our rushing capability going forward after what I thought was a very poor showing against what should’ve been a great opportunity. 

Defense

The defense managed to hang in long enough to gut out a victory, seemingly getting stronger in the game’s deciding moments. After allowing scores on seven of Wake’s first nine drives (Wake had a one play “tenth drive” with two seconds before the half that I’m not counting here), the defense settled in and did not allow a score on Wake’s final four drives. This stretch of impressive play was highlighted by senior safety Antonio Clary recovering a Wake fumble as the Deacs were moving towards field goal range in the game's final minutes. 

The biggest talking point coming out of the game defensively was the defensive line. Much like last week, they were largely ineffective for much of the game in generating any pressure or slowing down Wake’s running game. Wake managed 141 yards on the ground. And although the Hoos did record six sacks, only one of those six was by a defensive linemen. The rest all came from blitzing defenders.

UVA had 6 sacks in the win tonight. They only had 11 all of last season.

It’s their most in a game since…not that long ago. Had 8 in a ACC road game vs GT in October 2022.

— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) September 8, 2024

While the blitz is an effective defensive strategy used by every team every week, you don’t want to have to rely on the blitz as your only way of generating pressure. Going forward, the defensive line will have to find a way to generate more pressure themselves.

Multiple UVA defenders left the game with injury concerns. These issues are highlighted by linebacker Kam Robinson, a member of the Freshman All-American team last season, who was unable to return after his exit and was shown without pads on the sideline in the fourth quarter. Third-year Trey McDonald played admirably in Robinson's place, recording a career-high nine tackles and also getting his first sack on a fourth down to stop Wake from getting into scoring position late in the fourth quarter. Although Trey played well, our defense isn’t especially deep and could certainly benefit from having Kam on the field.

Special Teams

Special teams issues showed up again early in this contest, both in the punting game and on a kickoff. On Wake Forest's first punt attempt of the game, instead of signaling for a fair catch and fielding the ball near midfield, we instead opted for a “get away” approach and the ball bounced roughly another twenty yards into our territory.  While the punt was short and would’ve required the returner to come up to field it, that’s still a spot where you really hope your guys are able to make the play. On the other side, the Hoos had a punt blocked just before halftime.  Luckily, the recovery happened just outside of Wake's field goal range and they only had time to run one play before the half.

The kickoff team only had one mistake, a kick that went out of bounds. My biggest complaint  is that it was following UVA’s first score of the game, instantly giving Wake Forest both good field position and the momentum back. With a kicker who has shown they can consistently kick the ball out of the end zone for a touchback, giving up the extra ten yards of field position with the penalty just can’t happen. 

Rivalry Renewed

Now 2-0 on the year (1-0 in ACC play) the Hoos head back to Scott Stadium for a huge clash with former longtime rival Maryland next Saturday (9/14). This game is scheduled for a 8 pm EST kick and will air on the ACC Network.

UVa opens as a 2.5-pt home underdog for Saturday night’s tilt against Maryland

— Brandon Lloyd (@blloyd8298) September 8, 2024

What did you think of the Wahoos last night? Feeling confident looking ahead? Join all of our discussion over on the Locker Room Access Forums!

(Featured Image Credit: Jamie Holt/UVA Athletics) 

The recruiting period opened on Wednesday.  The first day out was a busy one for Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett.  

Four Stops

Bennett along with a couple assistants started the day close to home.  They visited St. Anne’s Belfield in the morning to meet with Chance Mallory.  UVA is making a strong push to keep the prized point guard at home.  Villanova and VA Tech head coaches also saw Mallory on Wednesday. He has upcoming visits scheduled to all six of his finalists.  VA Tech (9/06), UVA (9/13), Clemson (9/20, Villanova (9/27), Tennessee (10/11), Miami (10/25). 

After that, New England was the destination. Bennett stopped at New Hampton School (NH) to see last weekend’s visitor, point guard Keyshuan Tillery.  His visit went really well.  The UVA side believes they’ll be a serious contender for him at decision time.  There are four more scheduled visits, Wake Forest (9/06), Cincinnati (9/13), Ohio State (9/20), and Villanova (10/04).  He also visited Florida in June. 

Bennett attended an open gym session at St. Thomas More (CT) in the afternoon, to see top forward target London Jemison. Other head coaches from Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Syracuse were reported there too.  Jemison has taken recent visits to Vanderbilt and Kansas along with an earlier trip to Syracuse.  He has three more visits coming up to Alabama (9/06), Louisville (9/13) and Virginia (9/27).  

Later Wednesday evening, Bennett and assistants met up in the nation’s capital for an in-home visit with Gonzaga (DC) guard Derek Dixon. He visited Vanderbilt this past weekend, and has upcoming trips scheduled to North Carolina (9/06) and Arizona (9/13).  All three of those teams had coaches at his school today.  Pittsburgh’s Jeff Capel is expected to see him later in the week.  Dixon has said he’ll announce his college choice on Sept 27th.   

A Virginia assistant, most likely Jason Williford, was reported at Highland School (VA) to see forward Nate Ament. As I talked about last week, Ament is slowing down his recruitment.  It’s unclear right now if he’ll keep his UVA visit set for Sept 13th or push it back to a later date.  There are still a lot of teams in the running.  He may wait until the spring to make a decision.  

UVA assistant Ron Sanchez was spotted at the Largo (MD) open gym on Wednesday, eyeing forward Cam Ward.  Although he hasn’t scheduled an official visit yet, UVA is among his final 10.  With the coaching staff still coming around, Ward shouldn’t be written off.  

That’s a full day.  UVA coaches visited every serious 2025 recruit on the board, with the lone exception of point guard JJ Mandaquit out in Utah.  

Fall Recruiting Basics

As mentioned, the recruiting period opened on Wednesday.  What that means is that coaches are allowed to visit recruits at their schools or homes.  It stays open, with brief exceptions, all the way through March.  But most of the activity takes place over these next few weeks, before regular practices start and coaches get busy with their own teams.  

Typically, Tony Bennett will go out once a week on average until practices start.  Assistants more often.  Although it wasn’t the case on the first day out, most of the activity will center around 2026 recruits. 

Wednesday was the first time I’ve ever known Tony Bennett to make four recruiting stops in one day.  It was also the only opening day of fall recruiting that I can recall him not going to see a rising junior, as this is usually when attention starts to turn their way.   

We’re entering a hectic time of year on the recruiting front.  Be sure to check the forum for frequent updates between reports.  Thanks for subscribing to Locker Room Access!