Virginia Official Visits Going Well For Football Recruits Harris, Powell

By: Chris Horne |

Earlier this week, Etowah (Attalla, AL) class of 2019 defensive back Justin Harris announced the five schools he would like to “focus on” at this point in his recruitment.

“First off, I just want to thank God for this opportunity and I would like to thank all the schools that have offered me and believed in me up to this point but now I would like to focus on these 5 schools,” Harris wrote in this tweet on June 12.

“Florida Atlantic University

Memphis University

Vanderbilt University

Purdue University

University of Virginia

(No order)

Decision coming soon”

The 6’2″, 175-pound prospect visited UVA unofficially in March of this year. On Saturday (June 16) the Rivals and 247Sports 3-star defensive back will wrap up an official visit on Grounds, an experience that seems to be going well.

Besides UVA, we know Harris has taken visits to Florida Atlantic (last weekend), Memphis and Vanderbilt. Rivals.com reports that he plans to return to Vanderbilt next week.

Dual-Threat QB Making His UVA Official

Permian (Odessa, TX) dual-threat quarterback Peyton Powell has also made the trek to Charlottesville for an official visit. Like Harris, the 6’2”, 180-pound rising senior arrived on Grounds on Thursday and will return home Saturday.

Powell called his experience in Charlottesville “amazing.”

Powell, who posted a 4.45-second 40 and 37.6-inch vertical leap at The Opening in Dallas in April, watched his recruitment explode in the month of May, when Arkansas, Utah, Virginia, Baylor, SMU, Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Washington State, Illinois, Ole Miss, Nebraska and Texas offered scholarships. Earlier this week, TCU became the 21st school to offer the promising athlete.

Virginia has offered two rising seniors at Permian – Powell and offensive lineman Landon Peterson.

This is the second consecutive week in which the Cavaliers have hosted two class of 2019 prospects on official visits. Last Thursday-Saturday, in-state defensive lineman Ben Smiley and Florida cornerback Semar Melvin took official visits on Grounds. Melvin is now at Wisconsin for what appears to be his final visit before a decision.