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Virginia Offers Two Forward Targets in 2024 Recruiting Class

Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers extended scholarship offers to a pair of forwards in the recruiting class of 2024 on Monday

Matt Newton

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
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The Virginia men's basketball program is in search of a forward for its 2024 recruiting class. On June 29th, the Cavaliers offered four-star power forward Matthew Hodge (Belmar, NJ). Two weeks later, UVA extended two more offers to power forwards in the class of 2024 as both Jacob Cofie (Sammamish, WA) and David Punch (Harker Heights, TX) reported on social media that they received offers from Virginia on Monday (July 10). 

A 6'9", 225-pound forward out of Eastside Catholic in Washington, Jacob Cofie has picked up a number of major conference offers, primarily from West Coast programs. Virginia is the first major program from the East Coast to offer Cofie, joining a list of suitors that includes Oregon, USC, Washington, Colorado, Washington State, Ohio State, UNLV and Montana. 

Cofie has the physical tools to be a dominant big man in the paint, but also has the athleticism to run the floor and displays a more-than-serviceable jump shot from the mid-range. He has impressed throughout his play on the EYBL circuit, performances that undoubtedly led to him receiving this offer from the Cavaliers. 

A consensus top 100 prospect in the class of 2024 by each of the major recruiting services, Cofie is rated a four-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite, which also lists him as the No. 87 overall player in the country, the No. 15 power forward in his class, and the No. 1-ranked recruit in the state of Washington. 

Virginia also extended an offer to three-star forward David Punch on Monday. 

A 6'7", 220-pound power forward from Harker Heights, Texas, Punch's recruitment has begun to take off this summer. Virginia was one of three major conference programs to extend a scholarship offer to Punch on Monday, joining Xavier and Penn State. Now, Punch's list of offers includes Virginia, Penn State, Xavier, Virginia Tech, TCU, VCU, Oral Roberts, and others. 

247Sports rates Punch as the No. 39 power forward in the country in the class of 2024 and the No. 9 overall recruit in the state of Texas. An impressive showing at the EYBL Peach Jam last week earned Punch a Peach Jam Second-Team selection as he averaged 13.3 points per game on 56.5% shooting to go along with 9.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while competing with and against some of the top high school talent in the country. 

Each of Virginia's last three offers in the 2024 recruiting class have gone to power forwards, making it clear that Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers are focused on finding a capable big to pair with four-star point guard Christian Bliss, who became the first verbal commit in UVA's recruiting class of 2024 back on June 30th. 

Virginia has active offers out to eight players in the 2024 recruiting class:

SG Rakease Passmore (Asheville, NC)
SF Kon Knueppel (Milwaukee, WI)
PG Travis Perry (Eddyville, KY)
C Patrick Ngongba II (Fairfax, VA)
PG Trent Perry (Studio City, CA)
PF Matthew Hodge (Belmar, NJ)
PF Jacob Cofie (Sammamish, WA)
PF David Punch (Harker Heights, TX)

Stay updated on all the latest Virginia basketball recruiting news, including offers, visits, and commitments here: Latest Virginia Basketball Recruiting News and Updates

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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