recruiting quickies

This is the kind of chase I hope UVA is mired in every year. Four playmakers, all of whom could conceivably make the decision for Virginia. It's worth keeping on top of:

- First, either Jordan Lomax made it official that he's decommitting, or the staff made it official that they were tired of his waffling and less than pleased with his trip to Iowa, but either way he won't be coming. The staff is trying to load up on defensive backs, and Lomax probably wasn't pleased about being recruited over with Brandon Phelps and Demetrious Nicholson, and their continued pursuit of Jeremiah Hendy. If I had to pick a reason for his decommitment, the depth chart would be it.

By the way, no, I wouldn't expect that the strange news out of Iowa would have any effect on either Lomax or Hendy's decision. How often is it said about teenagers that they always think "that won't happen to me?"

- We're in competition with Ohio State for both Darius Jennings and Curtis Grant. The Columbus Dispatch has a sentence or two on each: good news about Jennings and bad news on Grant. I would take both with a shakerful of salt, especially that about Grant, which says:

Grant has offers from Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, though for a while now he has been expected to choose between Ohio State and Florida.

That's because large traditional outlets, especially ones like the Dispatch which might as well be the Columbus Pravda when it comes to the Buckeyes, can't wrap their heads around the idea that a backwater like UVA could possibly compete with mighty Ohio State or Florida for a player like Grant. If Grant picks UVA, there'll be a pair of spoiled fanbases going "WUT???" That'd be almost as good as actually having Grant at UVA.

As for Jennings, I said about a month ago that I thought he'd pick UVA, and I'm sticking with it. I think of the four we're chasing, we get two, minimum. Sound good? Sounds good.