Virginia football signed an average of 24 prospects per class in Bronco Mendenhall’s first three full recruiting classes as head coach. The class of 2020 figures to be significantly smaller, Mendenhall noted during his February 6 press conference, with the final tally of scholarship recruits taken likely coming in the low teens.

“Our next class we don’t have the same numbers, so the numbers will be fewer, anywhere between 12 and 15,” Mendenhall said. “This will be our fourth class basically that we’ve chosen, and so that’s about right. By the time you hit class four, the numbers should have come down and the emphasis on quality and specificity has a chance to go up, and that will really determine the outcome for this class.”

Mendenhall, who guided UVA to its first bowl victory in 13 years this past season, seems pleased with where the program is in terms of personnel. While there are certainly some areas the staff will target more than others, there aren’t any glaring deficiencies – like, say, offensive line has been in the past three classes – as we dive fully into 2020 recruiting.

“There aren’t many needs,” Mendenhall said, discussing what areas he may focus on in 2020. “There might be one linebacker total. There might be one defensive lineman total. It won’t be hard to look at our roster and say, okay, there the needs are, but we already have our formula completely dialed in. I’ve been recruiting to it. Got another commitment [on Tuesday (Feb. 5)] already.”

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