the recruit: Courtnye Wynn

Name: Courtnye Wynn
Position: DE
Hometown: Norfolk
School: Norfolk Christian
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 245

24/7: 93; four stars; #23 DT; VA #7; US #214
ESPN: 77; three stars; #82 DE; VA #19; Atlantic #88
Rivals: 5.6; three stars; VA #14
Scout: three stars; #62 DE

Other offers: Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Michigan State, NC State, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Connecticut

Of the Norfolk Christian quartet that's coming to UVA next fall, Courtnye Wynn was the one who, at the kickoff of the 2012 recruiting season, was the one most heavily connected with UVA.  Then he got offers from schools that can hang with UVA academically, like Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, and got a chance to see VT's pitch, and things slowed down a bit.

Annnnnd....in the end it didn't matter.  Wynn was the third of his teammates to commit to Mike London, but commit he eventually did, despite the threat of Notre Dame swooping in.

The main attraction for the schools offering Wynn is his athleticism; he's actually been playing basketball longer than he's been playing football.  His body needs a little muscle-building work - he looks bigger than his 245-ish pounds which means he's not yet as lean as he could be - and if he's carrying extra fat and still showing off raw athleticism, you have to figure that college coaches have been having daydreamy visions of what Wynn could look like with a year or two in a college strength program.

The other slight on Wynn is the level of competition he faces; Norfolk Christian doesn't play the big boys in the 757, instead playing outside the VHSL entirely.  This adds up to some work to do on Wynn to catch him up to some of the other prospects.  ESPN's scouting report sums up thusly: good physical tools and frame, solid tackler and decent against the run, needs to learn how to rush the passer.  Project that out a couple years and it means a little bit of uncertainty as to where on the line he ends up.  Wynn will probably never be a nose-tackle type, but depending on his physical development he could make either a strongside defensive end or three-tech tackle.

DT, in fact, is where 24/7 evaluates him, and they're also easily the most enthusiastic about his potential.  The other three services have him down pretty consistently as a mid-level three-star; his offers are somewhere in between 24/7's ratings and the other three.  Gaudy stats, to be sure, in his junior year - 24/7 credits him with 105 tackles, 31 TFL, and 10 sacks - but again: level of competition.

Which is all to say that Wynn is a prospect that UVA fans should be excited about, but to what extent, I have no idea.  Will he come in and be a star right away?  Probably not, but he doesn't have to; UVA has a ton of depth at DE (where I think Wynn ultimately will end up, but that's, like, a 60-40 kind of confidence.)  Depth is competition, as I'm sure you know, but I think Wynn is good enough that when he makes his impact depends more on him and less on others.  A career path similar to Will Hill might be the best comparison, albeit with a redshirt year unlike Hill.  Hill is now in his junior year and breaking out.  Can't keep him off the field or out of the DT rotation.  I don't know when Wynn will truly start his breakthrough but his redshirt junior year seems like a safe bet.