Locker Room Access - Virginia

Just quick updates…a lot of messages this morning.  

Point Guard Race

Recent visitor Keyshuan Tillery is down to a final three of Virginia, Wake Forest, and Cincinnati as was reported on Monday.  The New Hampton (NH) point guard is expected to make a decision at any time.  

A source close to Tillery said over the weekend that he believed UVA had the edge.  But since the final three dropped last night, all the speculation is centered around the other two finalists, Wake Forest or Cincinnati.  

The reason UVA isn’t coming up in relation to Tillery today is because there’s suddenly a lot of positive noise about St. Anne’s Belfield (VA) point guard Chance Mallory following his official visit this past weekend.  Definitely a shift in our favor, if not more.  There are multiple reports today of him canceling his other upcoming visits.  

Mallory has visited VA Tech along with UVA.  There's no decision date yet but all signs point that that coming.  Virginia only has one spot available for a guard.  First come first served between Mallory and Tillery.    

Gonzaga (DC) guard Derek Dixon has ruled out UVA.  I heard he recently called and let the staff know that Virginia wouldn’t be his choice, always a classy move.  He’s expected to announce his decision on September 27th.  Some sources believe Pittsburgh is the favorite, others are saying North Carolina.  

On The Road

Tony Bennett is out recruiting forwards today.  He’s headed for Largo High School in Maryland to see recent visitor Cam Ward.  The Hoos are making a strong push for him.  It’s safe to say he’s the top forward target at the moment.  I’ve heard the coaches really aren’t sure where they stand though.  He’s a tough read.  They’re just taking their best swing as long as he’s returning the interest.  

Later this evening, Bennett is scheduled to be at Jeffersonville High in Indiana to meet with forward Tre Singleton.  He's scheduled to be in Charlottesville for an official visit this weekend.  Virginia is in his final 8.   Louisville, very close to his home, is the team everybody believes is the favorite.  He just visited Purdue, also a contender.  UVA is obviously taking their shot.  He plays for Kyle Guy’s old Indiana Elite AAU program.  That relationship has been helpful in getting this far.  

Just the fact that forwards are the focus today is another great sign that UVA is feeling good about the guard situation.  

Team Notes

Senior guard Jalen Warley was spotted over the weekend wearing a cast on his arm.  I’m told it’s expected to be a short term injury with him likely back in action within 4 to 5 weeks.  Well before the season opener. 

Other injured Hoos are coming along on track.  Christian Bliss is back to full activities after his early August foot surgery.  And Blake Buchanan is already doing light work again, following his early September foot surgery.  The expectation was for Blake to be at full-go by somewhere around late Sept to early Oct. 

Fans also noticed Dante Harris in the posted practice video.  The senior point guard returned to team activities last week. I’m told the plan for now  is for him to only be a practice player.  He’s on schedule to graduate after the fall semester.  That leaves him with the option of transferring out and playing immediately elsewhere as long as he doesn’t suit up for games.  It’s still a fluid situation though.  

It’s been a busy first half of September for UVA Basketball on the recruiting front.  The Wahoos have hosted official visitors each of the last three weekends, with more likely ahead.  Key decisions loom on the horizon. 

Virginia is still searching for their first commitment in the class of 2025.  They have two spots available, one for a guard and one for a forward.  

Recent Visits

St. Anne’s Belfield (VA) point guard Chance Mallory made the short trip to UVA for his official visit this past weekend.  Bennett and company have been in full pursuit of the local standout since offering him a scholarship last summer.  His stock has soared the past year, now ranked as the 52nd overall recruit in the class.  If not for an ankle injury that kept him out all summer, there would likely have been even more competition for his services.   

Chance Mallory pics from his UVA official visit, he posted on IG. pic.twitter.com/D10OMiJXxi

— Hooz Got Next (@HoozGotNext) September 15, 2024

Mallory has taken two official visits now in consecutive weekends to VA Tech and UVA.  There are still four more upcoming visits scheduled to Clemson (9/20), Villanova (9/27), Tennessee (10/11), and Miami (10/25).  Bennett will certainly try to speed up the decision-making process, that’s what coaches do this time of year, but Chance seems intent so far on taking a deliberate approach.  

The previous weekend, Virginia hosted Largo (MD) forward Cam Ward on an official visit.  He was offered a scholarship last fall, but it was over the summer when UVA’s pursuit intensified.  This was his second time on Grounds, following an unofficial visit in June.  Ward is listed as the 50th overall player in the class.  All these rankings come from the 247Sports composite, if you care about that sort of thing.  

Thank you for the hospitality, energy, and love on my official visit to Virginia. Appreciate the staff and players for hosting me and my family pic.twitter.com/lFde281k8M

— Cam Ward (@camabucket) September 10, 2024

Ward’s visit went really well from what we’ve heard.  He had some interesting things to say about changes UVA is making, worth checking out in his interview with Cavs Corner.  Cam has upcoming visits scheduled to Maryland (9/20), Michigan State (10/04), and Alabama (10/11).  He’s also visited Marquette, Vanderbilt, and most recently Kansas State.  

Two weekends ago, New Hampton (NH) point guard Keyshuan Tillery was in town for his official visit.  UVA offered him a scholarship after Tony Bennett eyed him at Nike Peach Jam in July.  He was one of the summer’s biggest stock climbers, now ranked as the 66th player in the class. The Albany native hasn’t named finalists, but there seems to be just a handful of teams left. 

Keyshuan Tillery on his official visit at Virginia 🎓#CRFam 🟠 pic.twitter.com/7vbbOq1BUJ

— CityRocksBasketball (@TheCityRocks) September 2, 2024

Tillery has taken other recent visits to Wake Forest and Cincinnati.  He’ll head to Ohio State this weekend then Villanova in early October.  There might be a visit to Kansas squeezed in too.  UVA is making a strong push.  Tony Bennett was in New Hampshire recently to see him again.  

As things stand, those three recent visitors are the recruits that Virginia has the best odds of landing.  My opinion anyway.  

Impending Verdict 

Gonzaga (DC) guard Derek Dixon is finished with visits.  He plans to announce his college choice on his birthday, September 27th.  Finalists are Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse.  The 47th ranked recruit was in Charlottesville on an official visit back in April. 

Rivals recruiting analyst Houston Wilson placed a prediction in Pitt’s favor.  He’s really good at his job, but we’ll hope against the odds Houston is wrong for once.  UVA came on strong with Dixon this summer to put themselves in position to have a shot.  Pitt had long been seen as a bit of a favorite though. Tony Bennett did an in-home visit with Dixon a couple weeks ago to make the final case.  The decision may not be done yet.  We’ll find out his verdict soon enough.   

Off The Board

London Jemison won’t be coming to Virginia.  The St. Thomas More (CT) forward announced on Sunday night that he’s down to a final three of Alabama, Kansas, and Louisville with a decision coming soon.  He’s visited all three of those schools in recent weeks.  It looks like one of them managed to close the deal.  He had a visit to UVA scheduled for later this month, which will be canceled.  

It serves as a reminder that most of these recruitments do get wrapped up ahead of schedule.  This is the closing season. Being told no is the second best thing a coach can hear too though.  Allows the UVA staff to move ahead and adjust accordingly. 

Marathon Man

The recruitment of Nate Ament is turning into a true marathon.  He’s slowing down his process, with the plan of waiting until perhaps next spring to make a college choice.  The five-star Highland School (VA) forward originally planned to visit UVA this past weekend.  His visit will be rescheduled for a later date to be determined.   I expect we’ll see him in Charlottesville some time in October.  

Ament plans to take some visits this fall on football weekends, then more during basketball season.  There are a lot of teams after him and a long way to go.  Look for UVA to stay involved as long as there’s a spot open while obviously trying to get one of these other forwards in the meantime if they can.  

Upcoming Visits

Jeffersonville (IN) forward Tre Singleton has Virginia in his final 8.  He’s planning to visit soon, possibly this coming weekend.  Another big summer riser, ranked as the 72nd player in the class, UVA offered him a scholarship after Bennett watched him play in July.  Louisville, very close to home for Singleton, is seen as a favorite.   He just visited Purdue this past weekend.  They’re a serious contender too.  

And Utah Prep point guard JJ Mandaquit is scheduled to visit on the weekend of September 27th.  Ranked 51st in the class, Virginia offered him a scholarship in July too.  He’s taken recent visits to Cal and Louisville.  There are a bunch more scheduled, into late October, with BYU seen as the team to knock off.  

That’s all I have for now.  Let’s hope the next blog is a happy one.  

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By Josh Burton

The University of Virginia Football team suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday night, a 27-13 loss at the hands of longtime rival Maryland. Let’s take a look at some things that went well, along with what all needs to be cleaned up and worked on going forward.

Offense

Unfortunately last night, Virginia's offense was what kept Maryland in the game early and ultimately allowed them to pull away. The biggest problem early on was the Hoos inability to convert red zone drives into seven points. The most costly of these was the Hoos second drive, as they got all the way to the Maryland five-yard line before a Anthony Colandrea fumble as he was trying to escape the pocket gave Maryland the ball back and essentially cost the Hoos points. This play was more about ball security and awareness than it was about Maryland making a play, it should be something that can be cleaned up going forward.

Towards the end of the first quarter, the Wahoos had another drive that got deep into Maryland territory before ultimately ending with a field goal. In two plays, the Hoos went from their own 34 yard line all the way down to the Maryland 6 yard line by taking deep shots against a shaky secondary unit. From there, the next play got the Hoos down to the two yard line before back to back incompletions led to the field goal. This was especially frustrating for me as I’ve been harping on the need to be able to establish the run, as has the staff since their initial hire. To be in their third season and to see us completely abandon the run for back to back plays when all they needed was six feet is frustrating. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the call to kick the field goal here as Maryland's offense had to this point been completely ineffective and would’ve been pinned very deep in their own territory had we not converted. 

FINAL: Maryland 27, #UVA 13

'Hoos offense did little to nothing all night and the defense, eventually, wore down.

Virginia went 3 for 15 on third down and committed four turnovers, though the D didn't allow a point off them until the final one in the fourth quarter.

— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) September 15, 2024

The second half of this game was a breakdown of the Hoos offense from essentially every aspect.  Our offensive line got weaker as the game went on while Maryland's rush really picked up.  The Terps allowed Colandrea very little time and also exposed some of his inexperience as he really began forcing throws. To go along with that our running game quickly became ineffective, only picking up 16 yards in the third quarter with 14 of that coming from one Xavier Brown rush.

As the game went to the fourth quarter, we continued to wear down as Maryland appeared to get stronger with the game essentially being sealed following a Malachi Fields fumble and Maryland immediately converting the short field given to them into a touchdown.

Defense

I thought things went much better, especially early on, on the defensive side of the ball. The Hoos were flying around the field and playing good assignment football for most of the first half, rendering the Maryland offense completely ineffective until their final drive of the half.

One play I’d like to point out as a noted improvement directly from the previous game was Maryland's first play of their second possession, which began after they fair caught a punt at their own nine. Wake Forest called an option play last week very similar to what Maryland called on this play, in each instance, the quarterback kept the ball and tried to run it himself. Last week instead of holding contain, the defensive end fell for the fake and crashed down on the running back, allowing the Wake Forest QB to escape for a good gain. This week, however, when faced with the same situation, instead of crashing the same defensive end stayed home and was able to stop the quarterback for a short gain. This was an example of good assignment football that was addressed from the previous week and cleaned up.

In the secondary, I thought they did a good job in coverage and showed very good ball skills, knocking away potential big catches on multiple occasions. One big concern I saw was the general lack of speed. The Hoos were playing mainly softer coverage, lining up deeper off the ball, and still allowed the Maryland wide receivers to get behind them. On the flip side of this, the softer coverage also allowed space for Maryland's short passing game, allowing them to gain 4-5 yards at a time on the quick routes. I would prefer to see a more aggressive approach from the defense, trying to jump some of these short routes and force turnovers as opposed to what feels like a bend but don’t break approach.

Special Teams

I liked what I saw from the special teams units across the board last night, even if I didn’t fully agree with their use. The field goal unit converted their tries while the punting and kickoff units both did a great job of holding Maryland in check. I also really liked that with the “punt safe” unit keeping the majority of the defense on the field for situational punts they opted to put return man Chris Tyree back deep to return. This resulted in some good decision making on when to field the ball, allowing the Hoos better field position when possible. 

Clash at Coastal

The Hoos now head to Myrtle Beach for a road contest against Coastal Carolina. This game will be Saturday (9/21) and will kick off at 2 pm EST, airing exclusively on ESPN+.

UVa opens as a 5-point road favorite for Saturday’s game at Coastal Carolina. Virginia hasn’t been a 5 or more point favorite in a road game since 2011

— Brandon Lloyd (@blloyd8298) September 15, 2024

There was certainly a lot to be seen and discussed from last night's game. What did you see or feel good or bad about? Hop in on our discussion on the Locker Room Access forum!

(Featured Image Credit: Jamie Holt/UVA Athletics)