Jahre Cheeseman

The biggest news since the last War Room Defense was the departure of freshman Ahmad Bradshaw . Virginia lost some depth at the cornerback position when Bradshaw transferred to Marshall. Bradshaw’s loss makes the commitments from Mike Brown and Chris Cook significantly more important to the 2005 class. Right now, it does not look like UVa will take another cornerback prospect in the 2005 class. One of the top remaining targets in the class, Victor “Macho” Harris, is being recruited as an athlete and could play tailback or cornerback on the next level. Several other “athletes”, including Jahre Cheeseman , Montario Hardesty and Willie Harriott , could play cornerback as well. Of the three (and UVa has apparently offered all three), Virginia has the best chance with Cheeseman. Cheeseman says he will make an official visit to Virginia, but currently favors Virginia Tech and Penn State.

In other news on the recruiting front, there have been new developments on two of Virginia’s top remaining defensive prospects over the past two weeks. West Catholic (Philadelphia, PA) defensive lineman Marques Slocum narrowed his list of schools to eight. Virginia made the cut, and it has some company. Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Maryland, UNC, LSU and Oklahoma round out Slocum’s top eight. Most recently, five-star prospect Brian Cushing set two official visits – to Miami on December 10 and to USC on December 17. Cushing, who was close to committing to USC a little over a week ago, says he will take all five official visits before making his commitment. Virginia will be one of his final three visits, but he has yet to set a date. Virginia will likely be a middle visit for Cushing.

Cushing and Slocum are two of Virginia’s top remaining prospects on defense. Other top remaining targets include Highland Springs (VA) athlete Victor Harris , Hermitage (Richmond) defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald , Paterson Catholic (N.J.) safety Kitt Pommells and Bethlehem Catholic (PA) outside linebacker Kyle Newell . Harris is very likely the top defense/athlete prospect on the board. If I had to name a top-five targets list for Defense/Athletes in terms of interest (meaning the prospect is interested in UVa) and need, I would say…

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