Recruiting Rundown July 18th
The status of college sports remains uncertain, but there's a little bit of normalcy returning as members of the Virginia basketball team filed back on grounds this week. There's nothing normal about recruiting right now, unfortunately. We're four months into the dead period with no definite end in sight. It's unclear if class of 2021 prospects will be able to take visits this Fall as they hope. Even with the freeze on in-person activity, there's still news. It might be slower, but this year has proven that recruiting truly never stops.
Big man on the move
7-footer Efton Reid announced that he'll spend next year at IMG Academy in Florida. He graduated early from Richmond's Steward School. After considering immediate college options, he decided to stay in the 2021 class and do a post-graduate year. Overall, it's good news for Virginia. There were no scholarships available in 2020, so they needed Efton to stay in 2021. As with most recruits right now, there's no sort of time table for a decision. His race seems more wide open than believed a few months ago. Hopefully the picture will start to settle now that his class is firmly decided.
Get to know them
Montverde (FL) forward Caleb Houstan was the only player with a 2022 offer from Virginia. Now he's just another 2021. He announced his reclassification this week. it was an expected decision. I think everyone involved was always recruiting him under the assumption that this move would be made. The Canadian is an elite shooter, that can defend multiple positions. His recruitment is just getting started,. Duke and North Carolina have offered. Oregon and Gonzaga, both with a history of Canadian players, figure to be heavily in the mix as well. He's already done a Zoom meeting with the Virginia staff.
Virginia's involvement with Clackamas (OR) forward Ben Gregg is picking up. According to report from Stockrisers, he did the Zoom thing with Bennett and friends this week. He's another very skilled offensive player with some positional versatility, similar to UVA target Trey Kaufman. This isn't a new relationship. The Virginia coaches have been talking with him for a long time now. Coach Soderberg visited his school back in September. There's no real leader in his recruitment. Oregon, Oregon State, and Arizona have been the mainstays. Texas, Texas Tech, and VA Tech are among his offers from outside the Pac-12. He says location won't be a factor. There's a good opportunity here if UVA decides to pursue.
We hardly knew ya
A pair of 2021 targets came off the board recently. Rolling Meadows (IL) guard Max Christie committed to Michigan State, and British forward Jeremy Sochan made the call for Baylor.
Christie received one of UVA's first offers last summer. They put some effort in, but I don't think missing out came as any great surprise. He was always viewed as a bit of a long shot. The highlight of his recruitment for Virginia fans was probably a Rivals interview where he hinted at dissatisfaction with Mike Krzyzewski's recruiting style.
Sochan was always a bit of a mystery. There were a lot of whispers going back to last Fall before anything tying him to UVA was reported. The coaches did see him play a few times, but never Bennett. He did a virtual visit back in April. They were definitely involved until the end. I think they would have taken him and were working to make that happen. He never actually claimed an offer though.
Top target in 2022?
With Houstan's reclassification, Virginia hasn't made any scholarship offers to the class of 2022. There sure is a lot of talk about one though. That would be Poca (WV) guard Isaac McKneely. Three different gurus from Rivals have added their FutureCast predictions to his player profile, all for the Hoos. The 6'4 combo guard has already visited twice, and had some nice things to say about UVA and his conversation with Coach Bennett in our Early Names to Know for 2022 post last month. With no one committed for 2021 yet, it might be a little while before this gets serious. Indications are it will though.