Recruiting Notes: New Football Offers Extended

Recent news and notes on the football and basketball recruiting fronts…

FOOTBALL EXTENDS NEW OFFERS

The Virginia football program extended several scholarship offers last week. A local senior was one of the recipients.

Osiris Crutchfield, a 6’5″, 225-pound defensive end out of Western Albemarle (Charlottesville, VA), landed a scholarship offer from UVa as well as one from VMI last week. Crutchfield earned Group 3A second-team all-state honors as a junior, and so far in 2015 he has helped the Warriors to an 8-1 record heading into this week’s matchup with Albemarle.

A pair of younger prospects — Jaylin Dickerson and Devyn Ford — have also scored offers from the Cavaliers.

The Pinecrest Patriots Twitter account revealed the news about Dickerson, a 6’2″, 175-pound junior who plays safety and wide receiver for the Southern Pines (N.C.) school.

Ford, a 5’10”, 175-pound freshman at North Stafford (Stafford, VA), attended a Virginia one-day camp this past June. A North Stafford teammate, 6’5″, 250-pound sophomore lineman Nana Asiedu, was offered by head coach Mike London back then, but Ford caught the attention of the Virginia staff.

“Coach (Chris) Beatty actually worked with him in running back drills,” North Stafford head coach Joe Mangano said in this EDGE report posted in June. “Coach Beatty said he was impressed.”

Mangano predicted then that Ford would “be a major cog in our offense this year. We’re going to move him everywhere. He’ll be like a Percy Harvin-type.”

A standout freshman campaign has now resulted in Ford’s first scholarship offer.

HARBISON VISITS

As expected, Virginia class of 2016 football commitment Tre Harbison was in Charlottesville this past weekend on an official visit. Stay tuned for more in-depth comments from him, but in the meantime check out the tweet he posted following the trip.

Several other commits, including Bishop O’Connell (Arlington, VA) LB/ATH Landan Word, were also on hand to see Virginia defeat Georgia Tech last Saturday.

BASKETBALL RECRUITING NOTES

– On the Radar Hoops reports that UVa scouted East Jackson (GA) sophomore point guard Drue Drinnon last week. The 6’0″, 165-pound prospect reportedly has received offers from Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Memphis, VCU and Virginia Tech, among others, so far. North Carolina and Virginia are among the schools expressing some interest.

– The Early Signing Period for Division 1 men’s basketball begins Wednesday, November 11, and lasts through November 18. All four of Virginia’s class of 2016 commitments — Kyle Guy, Jay Huff, DeAndre Hunter and Ty Jerome — are expected to sign during that period. We know exactly when Jerome, a 6’4″ point guard out of Iona Prep (New Rochelle, N.Y.), will make his college plans official.