Amidst Challenging Times, Virginia Signs Talented 2023 Recruiting Class
Tony Elliott and his coaching staff faced a number of unique and arduous challenges as they tried to put together their first full Virginia football recruiting class this year. By the time the coaching staff got settled in last January, some of their top recruiting targets, especially within the state of Virginia, had already developed such strong relationships with coaches at programs outside of the state that it was difficult for the Cavaliers to get a foot in the door.
Their efforts to land additional commitments - and maintain the commitments they had already secured - became all the more difficult following the tragic shooting that claimed the lives of three Virginia football players - Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry - on November 13th.
It would have come as no surprise had the floodgates opened in the ensuing weeks with several of UVA's verbal commits reconsidering their recruitment plans. After all, Virginia had gone just 3-7 in Tony Elliott's first season, which was then cut short by the vicious and senseless shooting at UVA. No one would have blamed the committed players for wanting to take their recruitment in a different direction after that.
In the end, only one player decommitted from Virginia following the shooting and UVA landed additional commitments from five more recruits in the month of December, including one from wide receiver Suderian Harrison on national signing day. Virginia also added commitments from four transfers in the weeks leading up to signing day.
"I'm really excited cause these guys chose us. Considering the season and how it ended, these guys chose us," said Tony Elliott in his signing day press conference on Wednesday. "I think throughout the course of the season we had three total guys decommit and two of those happened early in the season. Once everything transpired late in the season, we only lost one commitment in this class. So the rest of these guys stuck with us and we were able to add some transfers amidst the adversity we were going through as a program... they could've decided to go anywhere in the country, but they chose to hitch their saddle up to this staff, this program. So I'm excited about the future."
UVA put together a signing day show on Wednesday afternoon, bringing on each position coach to talk with John Freeman about each of the players they had recruited and signed. It was Elliott's idea to have the signing day show as a way to celebrate the athletes who made the decision to go to Virginia and introduce them and their stories to the UVA football community.
Watch Virginia's full national signing day show here:
Elliott and the UVA coaching staff talked about each of the 22 players who had signed with the Cavaliers at that point, but they were still waiting to hear about one final recruit, who was set to make his final college decision later that evening. That player happened to be four-star linebacker Kamren Robinson, Virginia's top-rated verbal commit in the class of 2023.
Robinson had been eagerly pursued by Florida State and South Carolina in the weeks leading up to signing day and Robinson took official visits to both Tallahassee and Columbia in December, causing much speculation that UVA would lose Robinson's commitment on signing day.
Instead, Robinson put on the UVA hat on Wednesday evening and signed his national letter of intent to play at Virginia in a signing ceremony at Essex High School in Tappahannock, Virginia. Simultaneously, Tony Elliott and his entire UVA football staff and administration gathered at Scott Stadium to celebrate the signing of Robinson, a player Tony Elliott believes will be the "cornerstone" of UVA's 2023 recruiting class.
With Robinson signing with Virginia, the Cavaliers secured not only one of the top linebackers in the country, but one of the top overall recruits from the Commonwealth of Virginia. In total, six Virginia natives signed with UVA on Wednesday, seven if you include Monmouth quarterback transfer Tony Muskett (Springfield, VA). UVA had just one signee from Virginia in its 2022 recruiting class.
That the Cavaliers were able to secure so many in-state recruits, including one of Virginia's top talents in Kamren Robinson, and bring in a 23-man signing class in the early signing period that largely addressed UVA's most significant roster needs, is a remarkable accomplishment, especially given the challenging circumstances.
"I'm really excited about this class," Elliott said. "They have a great opportunity to come here and be a part of the healing process, about restoring this program and building it up.... Very grateful for the coaches and all their work. Our recruiting department did an outstanding job. Administration did a great job in supporting us."
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