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What's Next for Virginia Recruiting Following Christian Bliss's Commitment

What are UVA's next priority targets in the recruiting class of 2024 following the commitment of Christian Bliss?

Matt Newton

Christian Bliss/IG
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On Friday afternoon, Virginia landed its first verbal commit in the recruiting class of 2024 and its point guard of the future as four-star Christian Bliss announced his commitment to the Cavaliers over Villanova, Xavier, and Miami. 

This is a significant recruiting win for Tony Bennett and company, who will certainly be hopeful that Bliss will serve as the centerpiece for another talented recruiting class. With that said, here's who the Cavaliers are targeting in the recruiting class of 2024 to potentially join Christian Bliss in committing to Virginia. 

UVA has reported active offers out to seven players in the class of 2024, but the current top priority targets for the Cavaliers are five-star small forward Kon Knueppel and four-star power forward Matthew Hodge. 

CG Jaeden Mustaf (Matthews, NC)
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)

Knueppel has been near the top of Virginia's wish list for the 2024 recruiting class for a long time, as Tony Bennett extended a scholarship offer to the 6'6" wing back in September. Members of the UVA coaching staff have watched him play live numerous times and Knueppel took a visit to Virginia and was sitting courtside at JPJ for the Cavaliers' thrilling victory over Duke in February. 

Speaking of Duke, the Blue Devils just jumped into Knueppel's recruitment with an offer this week, which should come as no surprise as Knueppel has become one of the most pursued targets in this class. Now rated a five-star by the 247SportsComposite, Knueppel is ranked the No. 19 overall recruit in the class of 2024, the No. 7 small forward in the country, and the top-ranked player in Wisconsin. Bennett's roots in the state of Wisconsin have given Virginia a big recruiting lift in that area - with Reece Beekman and Leon Bond III being current Cavaliers who are Wisconsin natives - so that should help with UVA's efforts to recruit Knueppel, who plays at Wisconsin Lutheran in Milwaukee. 

But Virginia has some hefty competition for Knueppel, who now boasts offers from Duke, Wisconsin, Alabama, Miami, Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Marquette, Iowa, Illinois, Louisville, Minnesota, and Stanford. Offers from from other top major conference programs are likely still to come. As more and more of these big-time programs get involved, Virginia's odds of landing Knueppel get longer and longer, but Tony Bennett and company aren't giving up yet. Knueppel would be the highest-rated recruit to commit to Virginia in the modern era of recruiting tracking. 

UVA's other priority recruit is Matthew Hodge, a 6'8" forward from St. Rose High School in New Jersey who just received an offer from Virginia last week. Hodge has seen his recruitment take off over the last couple of months, with UVA being the latest in a long line of major conference programs to extend an offer. Virginia will have to contend with Maryland, Alabama, Villanova, Penn State, Seton Hall, Marquette, and Virginia Tech as well as Old Dominion, where his father, Odell Hodge, played college basketball. 

UVA's offer was an expected one after Tony Bennett and an assistant on the UVA coaching staff watched Hodge deliver impressive performances on multiple occasions over the last few weeks. The 247Sports Composite has Hodge ranked as the No. 129 overall recruit in the class of 2024, the No. 27-ranked power forward in the country, and the No. 5 prospect from the state of New Jersey. His recruiting ratings might improve even more following his impressive play during the June live periods. 

One day after Hodge received his offer from Virginia, his AAU teammate Christian Bliss committed to UVA. Bliss immediately becoming a recruiter for the Cavaliers could be a big help in getting Matthew Hodge to eventually join him in Virginia's 2024 recruiting class. 

Virginia's ideal recruiting scenario would be to land commitments from both Kon Knueppel and Matthew Hodge, but it seems much more likely that the Cavaliers will end up with Hodge rather than Knueppel at this point. 

With UVA not having any other serious recruiting targets in the class of 2024 on the board, it is expected that Tony Bennett and the Virginia coaching staff will be making some new offers to players in this class following the live evaluation weekends on July 6-9 and July 15-16. 

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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