Virginia Football Recruiting: Class Of 2022 Recruiting Kicks Into High Gear

If you are a high school junior prospect, Tuesday (September 1) marked the first day you were allowed to receive electronic transmissions (all forms of private communication permitted per the NCAA) from Football Bowl Subdivision coaches. FBS coaches have been able to recruit the 2022 Class prior to Tuesday, but football recruiting reached another level for these prospects on Tuesday. Twitter, text, etc., is now allowed.

The University of Virginia football staff was all over this important day. Offensive Line Coach Garett Tujague

Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach Ricky Brumfield

Senior scout Jordan Arcement

Regional scout JR Belton

Graduate assistant Charles Mack

EDITS

Internet/social media edits have become part of the fabric of modern day recruiting, and UVA has consistently struck the right chord in terms of catching recruits’ attention. The Hoos hit a homerun with Liberty Christian Academy (Lynchburg, VA) junior offensive lineman Zach Rice, whose late grandfather is a former UVA football player.

UVA was the first school to Rice, who Rivals.com recently anointed as a 5-star prospect. He discussed the Hoos and his recruitment in-depth in this recent article on the Sabre EDGE.

“UVA was my first offer and Coach Tujague … it was crazy,” said Rice. “He told me, ‘all these coaches are really car salesmen.’ Coach Tujague got into an argument with me and it was on purpose. He agreed with me, but he wanted to argue, saying, ‘I’m gonna coach you. Every day, all these coaches are so nice to you, trying to get you to come to the school, knowing you’ll just be another player there.’ He said, ‘I’m gonna show you how you’ll be coached and we won’t always agree.’ I really respect that. I really appreciate that.”

Virginia contacted many other class of 2022 targets via social media on September 1, including Princess Anne (Virginia Beach, VA) wide receiver JaVawn Burden Jr., Madison County (Madison, VA) offensive lineman Jacob Sacra, Gulliver Prep (Miami, FL) athlete Travious Lathan, and more. Here is a sampling of the edits those prospects received from UVA. All have been offered by the Hoos.

NEW OFFERS

September 1 was apparently a good day for Virginia football to extend new scholarship offers in the class of 2020. A pair of in-state prospects were among those that landed offers from the Hoos.

– Xayvion Bradshaw, 6’0”, 185 pounds, Athlete, Graham (Bluefield, VA)

Bradshaw, the son of two-time Super Bowl champion Ahmad Bradshaw, added Virginia to his offer list that also includes Arizona State, Kansas, Purdue and Toledo.

Jaiven Plummer, 6’3”, 185 pounds, Wide Receiver/Safety, Episcopal (Alexandria, VA)

Plummer, who boasts a 4.0 GPA to go along with his athletic prowess, attended Massaponax High School in Fredericksburg (VA) last year as a sophomore. He has transferred to Episcopal, a school UVA has landed a prospect from in each of the past two classes – defensive back Elijah Gaines in 2020 and offensive tackle Logan Taylor in 2021.

Boston College, Rutgers, Stanford, Temple and Virginia Tech have also offered Plummer, who announced his UVA offer here.

Connor Jones, 6’6”, 280 pounds, Offensive Lineman, Palmer Ridge (Monument, CO)

Jones landed offers from Michigan and UVA on September 1. Colorado State and Indiana offered previously.

Tevarua Tafiti, 6’3”, 205 pounds, Outside Linebacker, Punahou (Honolulu, HI)

Tafiti is rated by 247Sports as a 4-star prospect and the top junior in Hawaii. In addition to the offer from Virginia, he boasts offers from Arizona State, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Louisville, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, Washington State and Wisconsin.

Virginia junior running back Wayne Taulapapa, a graduate of Punahou, congratulated Tafiti on his Cavalier offer.