Virginia Football Recruiting Notes: Amare Thomas Commits

Coach Tony Elliott said recently that the Virginia football program has lots to offer interested prospects and that he believes the Hoos can show recruits that if they visit. Lately, that’s led to commitments, including three-star Pinson Valley High School receiver Amare Thomas.

The Alabama senior receiver pledged to the Cavaliers on Friday after visiting UVA during the week. He announced his decision on Twitter.

The 5’10”, 178-pound receiver joins four other players in the class of 2023 so far. Patriot High School (Virginia) offensive lineman Cole Surber (6’6”, 280 pounds) became the first to commit in late April. Massaponax (Virginia) running back/athlete Donte Hawthorne followed suit in early May. Most recently, Clay High School (Florida) cornerback Jarvis Lee and Highland Springs (Virginia) defensive lineman Miles Greene joined the list in early June.

Thomas had offers from Penn State, Alabama State, Arkansas State, Liberty, and Army among others. 247Sports rates Pinson as the No. 89 receiver nationally in his class. Last season at Pinson Valley, he tallied 42 catches for 824 yards and 9 touchdowns. Check out his Hudl profile here.

Virginia will lose at least two receivers following the 2022 season as Keytaon Thompson and Billy Kemp IV finish up their eligibility. It’s also likely that Dontayvion Wicks will have a decision to make about the NFL Draft if he posts a second solid season in a row after putting up a single season school record 1,203 receiving yards last season.

The Hoos signed two receivers in the 2022 recruiting class in three-star Sean Wilson out of New York and four-star Dakota Twitty out of North Carolina. It’s also possible that recruit Delaney Crawford, a three-star quarterback out of California, gets a look at other positions if he can’t climb the depth chart elsewhere.

More Virginia Visitors & Offers

The Cavaliers wrapped up the first Tony Elliott Heart Football Camps this past weekend and after five different days of offering clinics, lots of recruits have been on Grounds. That included Surber, who returned to Charlottesville for a session as a commit.

Virginia has made some other offers around these camps as well.

Four-star recruit Kam Pringle (6’7”, 330 pounds) visited this past weekend and picked up an offer. 247Sports rates him as the No. 1 tackle in South Carolina and the No. 3 tackle nationally. His offer list includes Ohio State, South Carolina, Clemson, and many others. He attends Woodland High, which is where current Cavalier Lavel Davis Jr. played in high school. Pringle has announced that he will narrow his list to 10 schools on Sept. 13.

TeKai Kirby (6’4”, 218 pounds) out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida announced that he picked up his first Division I offer from Virginia after visiting this past weekend as well. Kirby is the son of UVA legend Terry Kirby, who starred at running back in the orange and blue.

Eric Mensah (6’3”, 255 pounds) also announced an offer from the Hoos after a weekend visit. Unlike Pringle and Kirby, he’s a 2024 prospect as an edge rusher. He plays at Mountain View (Virginia) and currently has offers from Boston College, ODU, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, and others.

Lastly, Lake Taylor offensive lineman Anthony Britton (6’5”, 275 pounds) grabbed an offer according to VirginiaPreps.com publisher Matthew Hatfield via LT coach Hank Sawyer. The 2023 prospect does not have other offers listed by the national services.

Arrival

While those prospects are just beginning their journey on the recruiting trail, the class of 2022 recruits arrived at UVA this past weekend and moved into their college home. The Cavaliers will be running summer strength and conditioning programs as well as some NCAA allowed mini-sessions leading up to preseason practice in August.

Players who moved in this weekend included receiver Dakota Twitty, a four-star recruit out of North Carolina. Twitty posted more than 2,000 yards receiving and 35 touchdowns in high school. His father Tweeted about the big day with a shoutout to Wahoo legend Elton Brown in there.

The big offensive line class also arrived in Charlottesville. O-Line coach Garett Tujague brought in six freshmen in 2022 as his group became a major position of need following transfers and graduation. Dawson Alters (6’2”, 270), Tapuvae Amaama (6’5”, 330), McKale Boley (6’5”, 285), Houston Curry (6’7”, 265), Noah DeMerritt (6’6”, 340) and Blake Steen (6’5”, 318) make up the class.

Tujague re-Tweeted a photo with the whole class.