Virginia Recruiting Notes: Basketball Target Efton Reid Staying In 2021 Class

Virginia basketball recruiting target Efton Reid will stay in the 2021 Class but plans to spend the next year at IMG Academy in Florida. ~ Photo by Kris Wright

It was well known that star post Efton Reid was contemplating reclassifying from the class of 2021 to the class of 2020. The 4-star seven-footer, a top target of Virginia basketball, announced on Thursday (July 3) that he is indeed graduating from The Steward School (Richmond, VA) this year. He will not be enrolling in any college, though, opting instead for a postgraduate year at IMG Academy in Florida.

A proud mother took to Twitter to clarify her son’s situation.

Virginia head coach Tony Bennett has been in hot pursuit of Reid, last summer and fall especially. Coach Bennett extended a scholarship offer to the talented post last June and made several trips to Steward School this past school year. Most recently, he reportedly met with Reid via Zoom this spring.

Reid has taken official visits to Louisville, Ohio State and Virginia. He is also considering offers from Florida State, Georgetown, Kansas, LSU, Maryland and NC State are among the other programs that have offered scholarships.

What does Reid’s transfer mean for UVA? We know it means the Hoos are still in the game, because if he were to enroll at a college this fall UVA would not have been the choice. Virginia has zero scholarships available for the 2020-21 season. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. It seems clear that Reid wants to keep his options open and is no rush to decide his collegiate future. This decision enables him to do just that, to see what other schools offer and to, possibly, even consider the NBA next year.

Reid poured in 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds per game in his final season at Steward, earning 2020 VISAA Division II first-team honors.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

UVA Extends New OL Offer In The Class of 2021

Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, WA) rising senior offensive line prospect William Reed claimed a scholarship offer from the University of Virginia on Thursday (July 2). The 6’6”, 260-pound 3-star prospect seemed excited about the offer and the conversation with Cavalier offensive line coach Garett Tujague.

Virginia class of 2021 commitment Josh McCarron, who is also a Washington native, was quick to try and convince Reed to join him in Charlottesville. McCarron tweeted, “Ok so you gonna keep messing around or are you going to join me? Jk good stuff brother congrats.”

In addition to UVA, Reed boasts Power 5 offers from California, Colorado, Duke, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Tennessee, UCLA, Utah, Virginia Tech and Washington State. He is considering a handful of Ivy League opportunities too.

As of this writing, Rivals and 247Sports experts are united in predicting Reed to California. We hope to check in with the standout prospect soon for his thoughts the UVA offer and his conversation with Coach Tujague.

More UVA Football Recruiting News

– Class of 2021 offensive line prospect Weston Franklin plans to announce his top six schools “soon,” he tweeted on Thursday (July 2). Central Florida, Duke, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi State, NC State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, South Florida, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia have offered the 6’4”, 310-pound prospect.

Franklin attended Wayne County High School (Jesup, GA) the first three years of his high school career. He will attend IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL) his senior year.

Georgia Tech is the consensus favorite according to Rivals and 247Sports.

– Central Florida, Louisville, South Florida, Vanderbilt, Virginia and West Virginia made the top six for class of 2021 offensive line prospect Ethan Mort. Today, the Venice (FL) standout tweeted, “Commitment coming soon.”

Analysts from Rivals and 247Sports peg Central Florida as the favorite for the 6’6”, 275-pound tackle.

– Five-star cornerback Tony Grimes (UNC), 4-star defensive end/outside linebacker Naquan Brown (LSU), 3-star defensive back Kaleb Edwards (Georgia Tech), and 3-star wide receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (Louisville) are Virginia class of 2021 targets who committed elsewhere this week. Grimes and Brown hail from Virginia Beach, attending Princess Anne and Ocean Lakes, respectively.