Cavaliers Now

Virginia Football Lands Commitment From Record-Breaking Wide Receiver

The all-time leader in receiving yards and touchdowns in Georgia high school football history has committed to UVA

Matt Newton

Jaden Gibson/IG
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Amidst all of the chaos of the transfer portal opening on Monday, the Virginia football team earned a significant victory on the high school recruiting trail as Jaden Gibson, a record-breaking wide receiver from Georgia, announced his commitment to UVA. 

Gibson, a 6'1" receiver from Rabun County High School in Tiger, Georgia, just put the finishing touches on a legendary high school career. The all-time record for career receiving yards in Georgia high school football history had been held by Stan Rome for 49 years until this season, when Jaden Gibson surpassed that mark with 5,124 career receiving yards. Gibson also broke the all-time touchdown receptions record, held previously by Travis Hunter, the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2022, with 48 career touchdowns. Gibson blew past that mark with 59 career touchdowns, 29 of which came in his senior season at Rabun County, which also set a state record for most touchdown catches in a single season. 

Gibson originally committed to Georgia Southern back in June, but reopened his recruitment on November 20th, a few weeks after Virginia had extended an offer to him. In addition to an unofficial visit in early November, Gibson took an official visit to UVA this past weekend and announced his commitment to Virginia on Monday afternoon. 

Gibson's commitment addresses an area of need in this recruiting class for UVA, as the decommitment of Amare Thomas a couple of weeks ago left the Cavaliers without a single wide receiver commit in the class of 2023. With Gibson's commitment, Virginia now has 14 verbal commits in the recruiting class of 2023, the first class to be entirely recruited by Tony Elliott and his staff at UVA:

  • offensive lineman Cole Surber (committed April 29th)
  • running back Donte Hawthorne (committed May 29th)
  • defensive lineman Miles Greene (committed June 6th)
  • tight end TeKai Kirby (committed June 24th)
  • running back Noah Vaughn (committed June 27th)
  • cornerback Keandre Walker (committed June 27th
  • linebacker Kamren Robinson (committed July 1st)
  • quarterback Anthony Colandrea (committed July 8th)
  • athlete TyLyric Coleman (committed July 30th)
  • offensive lineman Anthony Britton (committed August 16th)
  • defensive back Trent Baker-Booker (committed October 1st)
  • defensive back Landon Danley (committed October 13th)
  • defensive back Caleb Hardy (committed November 6th)
  • wide receiver Jaden Gibson (committed December 5th)

See more details on each of Virginia's class of 2023 football commits here.

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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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