TheSabre.com Fan Friday: Familiar Names Create Some Recruiting Excitement

While college football and basketball teams have finished their seasons, there’s no shortage of interest in the offseason for Virginia fans. With high school recruiting and the transfer portal, roster dynamics can always drum up discussion. A pair of familiar names captured the attention – and imaginations – of the Wahoo nation this week.

On the football front, high school quarterback Arch Manning stirred up fan conversation with an appearance in Charlottesville. Yes, that Manning family. Arch Manning, who plays at Isidore Newman in Louisiana, is the nephew of Peyton and Ashley Manning. She graduated from UVA in 1997.

Anyway, Arch Manning is considered a 5-star recruit at quarterback and he’s already thrown for 72 touchdowns and more than 5,000 yards in high school. Reports trickled out Friday that Manning visited Virginia and played some golf at Farmington Country Club too. There are Sabre message board threads with fan excitement here, here, and here. His sister is a freshman at UVA.

Meanwhile, new Virginia women’s basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton landed a visit from an ACC player that entered the transfer portal. That name also created a surge of excitement on that message board. That’s because Sam Brunelle is a local star already. She played at nearby William Monroe High School before eventually choosing Notre Dame for college. She has played for three seasons at ND, but will graduate this summer. Brunelle therefor entered the portal as a graduate student with two years of eligibility remaining due to the bonus COVID year.

Brunelle Tweeted that she was on location in Charlottesville with a photo showing Virginia ties in it. Message board threads about the possibility of Brunelle coming home can be found here and here.

With that excitement still bubbling, let’s look at the rest of Fan Friday!

Fan(s) Of The Week

Wahoowa!

Student Fan(s) Of The Week

Stripes for the Wahoo win.

Feature Photo Of The Week

With CavMan Kim Kirschnick officially retired, Virginia needs a new horseback mascot. Here’s a thread about it this week.