The Virginia football team picked up its sixth commitment for the Class of 2025 on Friday. This time the Hoos dipped into Florida for tight end prospect Justin Zames, who had just completed a visit to UVA earlier the week.
Zames made the announcement on social media.
Extremely grateful!! #committed @Coach_TElliott @coachdeskitch @UVAFootball @BPS_Football @BPS_Athletics pic.twitter.com/dBUwsdzcPs
— Justin Zames (@justinzames88) March 22, 2024
Zames helped Berkeley Prep in Tampa win its first state title last fall with a 13-2 record. A run heavy team, Berkely put up 3,651 rushing yards and 48 rushing touchdowns this past season with Zames serving as a blocking tight end in many games. A 6’4″, 235-pound recruit, he has not yet been rated by the recruiting services.
Still, Zames’ recruiting picked up steam the past few weeks with 8 offers since Feb. 19. That included the UVA offer that led to a visit earlier this week. Other recent offers included Appalachian State, Harvard, and Brown.
For Virginia, this sets up the succession plans for the tight end position. The Cavaliers used mostly two seniors last season at the position in Grant Misch and Sackett Wood Jr., plus Joshua Rawlings opted to transfer out after the season. To fill in the gap, UVA added Sage Ennis (Clemson) and Tyler Neville (Harvard) from the transfer portal. That leaves this line at tight end: 2024 (Ennis, Neville), 2025 (Henry Duke, Karson Gay), 2026 (TeKai Kirby, Hayden Rollison), 2027 (John Rogers), and 2028 (Zames). There are potential redshirt years in the mix for some players 2025-2028 that could shuffle specific years.
Zames’ commitment also continues a trend for Virginia with the Class of 2025 recruiting cycle. To date, the Cavaliers have focused on offense as 5 of 6 recruits currently project to that side of the ball. High school highlights for Zames can be found on his Hudl profile here.
