The Virginia football program kept its recent recruiting momentum going Monday night. Deerfield Academy tight end Willem Thurber made the call for the Cavaliers as he joined linebackers Isaiah Reese and Donovan Robinson as commitments since Friday. That increased UVA’s Class of 2025 total to nine commits.
Thurber made the announcement on social media.
Proud to announce my commitment to the University of Virginia. Thank you to my Family for the endless support and All the coaches who have supported me throughout my journey. Go Hoos!!🟠🔵@Coach_TElliott @coachdeskitch @UVAFootball @DABigGreenFB pic.twitter.com/7nBodEPvfI
— Willem Thurber (@willem_thurber) April 23, 2024
Thurber joins a pair of high school teammates as Virginia commitments as well. The 6’5″, 225-pound tight end catches passes from quarterback Cole Geer, who became UVA’s second commit in this class back in December. Receiver Triston Ward started the mini pipeline in the Class of 2024 and will join the program this summer.
247 Sports rates Thurber as a 3-star recruit and as the No. 6 prospect in Massachusetts. He carried offers from Duke, JMU, Dartmouth, Syracuse, Wake Forest, and others. He picked up the UVA offer last summer after attending camp and visited in January.
Thurber represents the second tight end commitment in this recruiting cycle. Justin Zames committed to the Hoos in March. Virginia has established a succession plan for the position with these moves. UVA brought in Sage Ennis (Clemson) and Tyler Neville (Harvard) from the transfer portal for this coming season to set up this line at tight end: 2024 (Ennis, Neville), 2025 (Henry Duke, Karson Gay), 2026 (TeKai Kirby, Hayden Rollison), 2027 (John Rogers), and 2028 (Thurber, Zames). There are potential redshirt years in the mix for some players 2025-2028 that could shuffle specific years.
High school highlights for Thurber can be found on his Hudl profile here.
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Welcome! Does Deerfield have any really good interior linemen, offense and defense?