recruiting board update

Let's see if we can't finally focus on the supposed theme of this blog, which is sports, and not the politics of running a university.  (Hint: no.  Can't do it.  But today's message will be humor-only.)

It's Wednesday, so it's time for a recruiting board update.  UVA picked up another commitment this past week in WR Keeon Johnson, which has to mean we're done with wide receivers now, right?  Well, I don't think they'd turn down a commitment from DaeSean Hamilton, but the number of receivers we needed before Johnson committed was zero, so nothing's changed in that regard.  Johnson (who is from North Carolina) picked UVA over Notre Dame and all the instate schools, so that's something.

Let's get on with the updates:

-- Moved WR Keeon Johnson from yellow to orange.  Something about those NC boys making a big leap like that; LaChaston Smith did the same thing.

-- Moved WR Zach Bradshaw from green to yellow.  Though Bradshaw isn't strictly a WR, I think the class is still closing in that area and Bradshaw is looking into other places with apparently more interest.

-- Removed LB Yannick Ngakoue from yellow.  Committed to Maryland.  Great pickup for them, not a great loss to us as we continue to be in excellent shape in the linebacker department.

UVA is in a frustrating place right now with recruiting where a lot of the really, really top targets are all said to be favoring UVA, all of them want to take visits to other schools to do their due diligence, and none of those visits are scheduled or if they are, they're not til like mid-August.  Folks fitting this description to various degrees include Smoke Mizzell, Jack McDonald, Wyatt Teller, and Donta Wilkins.  Others, like DaeSean Hamilton, Oren Burks, Buddy Brown, Tevin Montgomery, etc, appear to be in no hurry whatsoever to make a decision.  There've been commitments lately, but the coaches just can't seem to get that one that would get the ball really rolling.

Basketball-wise, UVA lost out on Matt Thomas this past week with his commitment to Iowa State; some have called it a minor blessing since it seemed as though Thomas duplicated the skills we already have on the roster.  That may be, but it still bugs me like hell to lose a basketball recruiting battle like that because they're so much harder to win, and when you get really close you've got to wrap them up.  Compared to good basketball players, good football players grow on trees.

However, the Hoos are getting back in the game with Jaren Sina, and it looks like shutting down for a while didn't hurt them at all.  Sina is absolutely a guy you can win with, and since our point guard recruiting is getting so little traction anywhere else, this is one I'd unequivocally love to see wrapped up in our favor. Get it done Tony etc. etc.

Now, about our dear Board of Visitors. What's left of it.  With Mark Kington's resignation yesterday, they're down to 15 members; Kington's resignation was more important than you think because he'd simply have been elevated to rector upon what is sure to be Dragas Malfoy's failed bid for re-appointment come July 1.  The total number of resignations over this whole affair has been pushed to four, including Teresa Sullivan herself.  But we're not here to further dissect this, at least not today.

Today is for humor, and let me just say that we've been fortunate that the general non-UVA reaction to this has not been denigration of the school, but actually a touch of sympathy for a world-class organization being jerked around by its unelected leadership.  To that end, people write funny things about it:

-- Rector Dragas's statement, translated into plain English
-- The Declaration of Independence

Both come highly recommended, but my God if you never read anything else on the Internet read the Declaration thing.  The writer wins at life the Internet and everything.