Virginia's Portal Recruiting is Underway

Portal season is fully underway.  The majority of Virginia's roster from this past season is in the transfer portal, following the coaching change.  And now we’re seeing some activity on the other side of the equation, as Ryan Odom is currently hosting his first visiting recruits since taking over the helm at UVA.  

Organized Chaos 

Transfer recruiting is more fast paced, but there’s still some structure beneath the outer chaos.  The portal officially opened this past Monday.  Players have until April 22nd to enter their names.  There’s no deadline for them to decide on a new school, only to enter the portal. 

This is a preliminary phase right now, only a warmup.  There’s an upcoming dead period from April 3rd through the 10th.  During a dead period, there’s no in-person recruiting activity allowed.  That means no visits, no coaches going to see recruits.  When that ends on April 11th, transfer recruiting will go full steam.  Every school will have visitors lined up for that weekend and it will continue until their rosters for next season are complete. 

What’s happening this week is a head start on that, as some players get in visits ahead of the upcoming dead period.  Most transfers will wait until after the dead period to move forward, using this time to filter through their options.  Some of them taking visits now went into the portal with a plan in advance, either knowing their destination or having already narrowed their choices.  While others are just speeding up the process by getting in a visit or two, with the intention of taking more after the dead period. 

For Virginia specifically, this will surely be a prolonged process.  We’ll probably still be at it in May, which is actually quite normal.  At the same time, Ryan Odom has many spots to fill.  So, he needs to start getting commitments as early as possible.  

Recruiting the Roster 

Virginia only has two players from the current team that haven’t entered the transfer portal.  It seems likely that junior forward Elijah Saunders and freshman guard Elijah Gertrude intend to stay. No guarantee until the portal deadline passes, or they publicly announce their intention to return.  There’s also incoming recruit Chance Mallory, bringing the roster total up to three for next season.  

Now, entering the transfer portal doesn’t necessarily mean players will leave.  Some of them are still considering a return to UVA.  Essentially, they’re part of the transfer recruiting pool for Odom and staff.  Quicker decisions from those players are preferred, as it helps UVA clarify needs. 

Junior guard Isaac McKneely is one of the top available players in the portal.  He’s reportedly taking a visit to Tennessee early next week, and I believe there’s a trip to Louisville planned ahead of that.  There’s still some hope for UVA.  North Carolina has been in the mix too, but they seem to have faded.  An early decision seems likely, which is helpful. 

Freshman center Anthony Robinson is visiting Stanford this weekend.  He’s a return candidate too.  As I’ll get into below, UVA has another young big man visiting this weekend.  It’s possible that could complicate the situation.  No doubt Odom would like to have them both though.  

UVA is making a real effort to keep freshman forward Jacob Cofie.  It could turn out to be too much of an uphill battle to keep him from going home to the west coast, but they are trying.  And fellow freshman Ishan Sharma is open to staying too.  

Those four are the main return candidates.  

There are pictures floating around of Andrew Rohde meeting with Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger. Sophomore Dai Dai Ames has set an official visit to California.  There’s not much known yet about the recruitments of the rest of UVA’s portal crew.  

Visitors

Ryan Odom was spotted Friday giving two of his former VCU players a tour of Grounds. 

Freshman guard Brandon Jennings, a Richmond native, was one of those visitors. The long athletic 6’4” combo guard posted modest numbers this season, averaging 2.7 points in 13 minutes per game.  He’s ranked as the #168 player in the portal.  All these rankings I’m going to reference are from Evan Miya, a data driven system the LRA nerds brought to my attention. 

Jennings reminds me a bit of former Virginia guard Darius Thompson, only a lefty.  Similar physical attributes and skillset.  A very versatile player, can run the point or be used off the ball, and has the tools to be elite defensively.  He was a late riser as a high school recruit who wound up picking up several offers from power conference programs, but decided to stay home and play for Ryan Odom. 

The second visitor is freshman center Luke Bamgboye, a starter for the Rams.  He is a big time athlete, one of the better shot blockers in the country.  The London native was third in the A-10 in blocked shots this season at 2.1 per game, despite only averaging 16 minutes played.  His offensive package is still a work in progress as his 3.8 points per game average shows.  Miya lists him as the 56th ranked transfer. 

Bamgboye was a top 150 ranked 4-star recruit out of high school, first attending a school in Baltimore before moving to Arizona.  Many power conference teams recruited him, long list of scholarship offers.  He and UVA commit Chance Mallory know each other well, having played on the same AAU team.  

Both of these VCU transfers would be great additions for Virginia. Some Wahoo fans will surely scoff at the scoring averages. But they’re very talented players, capable of contributing immediately.  And more importantly, have a lot of future upside.  This roster reload that’s about to happen is top to bottom, and won’t only be about featured players for next season.  There will be those kinds of transfer targets coming up too.  

Other Potential Transfer Recruits

The next guy to keep an eye on seems to be Nevada transfer forward Nick Davidson, our new friend Miya’s 7th ranked transfer.  He’s visiting Clemson right now.  There’s rumblings that UVA is the main competition for the Tigers.  And these visits often are done on the same trip, so it’s very possible a stop in Charlottesville is next.  Notre Dame is another team in the mix, with talk of an early week visit there. 

Davidson was a 2nd team all-conference selection this season, averaging about 16 points and 6 rebounds.  He’ll be a graduate transfer after having redshirted his first year there, with one season left to play.  

It was reported last night that Troy transfer guard Tayton Conerway is setting up meetings with half a dozen coaching staffs, one of those being Virginia’s.  This season’s Sun Belt Player of the Year averaged over 14 points and just under 5 assists.  He was also third in the nation with 2.9 steals per game.  Miya has him as the 14th best player to portal. 

Conerway is a senior who began his career in junior college.  Due to a recent ruling, players like him have an extra year of eligibility.  So, another grad transfer.  And he’s a Texas native.  We’ll probably see UVA recruiting more Texans moving forward.  New associate head coach Griff Aldrich has great connections there.  

UVA has also been mentioned with Purdue Fort Wayne guard Jalen Jackson, Delaware freshman guard Izaiah Pasha and high-scoring Monmouth wing Abdi Bashir Jr.  No indication yet if any of them will be a serious target. 

The crazy season is just getting started. Stay tuned to Locker Room Access, and consider becoming a VIP member for the extra scoop.  Also please take the time to learn more about our partner Fan Fund, the credit card that gives back to your favorite student-athletes.